I can finally start planning my Europe trip for real, so I sat down last night and pored over maps and train routes and thought about what I wanted to see.

What don't I want to see? So much of the main European continent is there to see, but I couldn't decide what to actually see. Germany, Austria, Prague, or back to France and the food? Spain, Italy, Portugal. It's all too much to squeeze in on one trip.

Then I thought about what I really wanted to do on the trip, and I came up with the following list.

1. See more of Ireland in-depth. I've really only been to Dublin and Galway, and I want to see so many of the other places that Eire has to offer.

2. Dig in to the ancient, and the early Celtic portions of the northwest of Europe. That's where my true interest lies, and so Wales and Scotland get added to the list.

3. Visit Bicyclemark, JaG, and maybe Brooklynzoo (if she's still around) in Amsterdam.

4. Meet and get to know other bloggers out there as well, and most of them that I "know" are in Dublin, Glasgow, and England. That's what really drives my interest in this trip, and will hopefully become a nice CafePress book afterwards: to meet the different bloggers out there and find out what they're like for real, and what we all have in common in the end.

There are other bloggers in Spain, the Philippines, and to be true, in every corner of the globe, but I don't have that kind of money, so I have to just take a small corner of Europe as my starting point.

5. I also want to give in to that geek side of me and check out the 2005 Tolkien Society's 50th Anniversary celebration of The Lord of the Rings, in Birmingham, England.

So here's the basic trip:

Fly into Dublin, explore some of Ireland and meet up with Glen from last year's trip, have a pint or two with Linus, and then ferry across to Wales.

Hike some of the beautiful Welsh countryside and then slowly work my way north, possibly stopping for more rambling along Hadrian's Wall. Eventually arrive in Glasgow for a couple of nights, and maybe meet blogger C.

From there it's up to the Highlands, where my ancestors once lived. And maybe the Oban whisky factory.

After that, wind my way back down to Birmingham for the Tolkien thing, then take a cheap easyjet flight to Amsterdam (approximate day is August 14, for those who need to know).

A few days in the 'Dam with some great bloggers, and then another cheap flight back to Britain/Ireland, and finish up the trip in Galway, to rest and relax at the Roisin Dubh with a Guinness in my hand.

Yeah, it's all pretty Celtic/Anglo, and part of me really wants to see more of the main continent, but once you start spreading yourself out farther and farther from your home base (Dublin), the costs really start adding up. And to be honest, Ireland and Britain is what I like, and I'm perfectly happy to delve deeper into their roots and peoples.

And the weather will be nice and cool. Hopefully. It's been a god-awful hot summer here in the Midwest, and I could use some of those cool North Atlantic breezes right now.

The trailer for Peter Jackson's King Kong is up on a Volkswagon site for some reason. Go here to check it out; it looks pretty damn fantastic, and shows a lot more than I thought it would. The Venture, dinos, and double-K himself in many great shots. Plus Naomi Watts.

Damn, I'm behind on movies. I still haven't seen Batman Begins, and War of the Worlds bows on Wednesday. Well, I've got some time on my hands now, so looks like I'm off to the cinemaplex.

It's finished.

Thanks for putting up with a few weeks of nothing but pics and stories about theatre, but that's the only thing I've had to talk about.

Apparently the Cubs are getting their asses kicked on a daily basis.

The war in Iraq is going splendidly, from what my trusted leaders are telling me.

I've had my head in nothing but small-town theatre, and I couldn't be happier.

The show went well. Almost everything I could have hoped for.

What was good?

The acting, the sets, the costumes and music and sound, the direction (that was me, yes, but I'm proud of the work I did.)

Regrets? I have a few.

We finally got access to the beautiful new auditorium in Oswego, but we were a few weeks early. Construction delays forced us to do a big show on a small stage, so I have to wait yet again to direct a show on a "real" stage.

Still, R & J was a quality show, and I wish more of my friends came to see the show. Kate, Prince Fan, my folks, Aunt Donna, and Kris from the old days at Sandwich High. That was it. Called and emailed everyone, and hardly heard from anyone.

Boo hoo, yeah, I know. Everyone was busy, I guess.

And it's all pretty silly, in the end, all of us playing dress-up in a cafeteria. And I can't speak for most of the actors, but I know I take it as seriously as anything in my life. I was proud of the show, and wanted to share it with as many people as possible.

They'll all come see the pop shows, and that's how it is. But I hope all that were involved with Romeo and Juliet were happy with it, and were proud of themselves.

Shakespeare is my favorite thing to direct. I love digging into his stories, trying to figure out what the hell he's talking about, and teaching my actors how to make it real, and believable to the stage.

I firmly believe he's the greatest storyteller out there, and I get renewed and energized every time I do one of his plays.

"Oh for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention..."

Now that John Ashcroft is no longer the Attorney General, they took the concealing robes off of those statues. John didn't like having a bare breast show up during his press conferences, remember?

Now Justice is served, and the American people get back the thing that is most important to them.

Boobs!

(To be fair, they uncovered a bare male chest as well, but I just like talking about tits.)

Thanks for the mammaries...

Last night was opening night, and I was sweating it a little.

It went okay, no major screw-ups, and everyone knew their lines. But we didn't quite engage the audience all the way, and I could tell they weren't concentrating on the show as much as we would have wanted them to.

The actors were nervous, the audience was small (it was a Wednesday, after all), and the music was too loud at times. But that's what that first show is for: figure out what didn't work and correct it for the next night.

Tonight was great. Romeo was relaxed and natural onstage, the actors told the story, the scene changes went quick, the tech guys were great with their cues, and the audience hung on every word. After Mercutio died the audience didn't move, didn't speak, and hung on every word. I could tell: they were paying attention and wanted to listen to every word.

Fred nails it in the scene where he's trying to calm down Romeo after Tybalt's death, and when Mike (Papa Don Capulet) starts throwing all the women around and cursing his daughter, it's great.

Tonight was the show I wanted to see, that I had in my head for a year. It's still just "guys in dress-up" as my collaborator says, but we told the story well tonight, and I am very proud.

(Pics aren't great, but I couldn't use a flash; I only had a moment to sneak in-between the seats to grab a couple of pics from the performance. Romeo is dressed as a cowboy and Juliet has a "Breakfast at Tiffany's" thing going on. It's a costume party, you know.)

Two more shows, folks. Hope you can make it.

A year ago, when we started work on the initial concepts for Romeo and Juliet, I knew what I wanted the poster to look like. I always loved the original one-sheet for Gattaca, and started with that.



When the cast was finally decided upon, I took some test photos to start playing around with. Here's the first one I took of Kevin, a.k.a. Romeo:



Kevin is your basic 15-year old kid, with ungelled "boy" hair, but with a little gel and hairspray and some theater makeup we changed him into this:



After some Photoshop and Publisher, I made a mock-up of the poster and sent it to the graphic designer. You've seen the mock-up before, but here it is again:



And now, finally, we have the completed poster for Romeo and Juliet. You can see that Dustin is pretty good, and took my original idea to a much higher level.



And since I have two Juliets (they perform on alternating nights), we had two posters made up, to be fair to the girls.



Pretty cool, eh?

The show opens tomorrow. I hope everyone that's within the area can make it. It's still kids in baggy suits pretending to be gangsters, but I'm very proud of the work everyone has done. It's been a great show to work on, one of the best we've ever done. After Saturday, we'll decide if it was the best.

Watch the Buzznet and the Flickr sites to see lots of pictures from the rehearsals and performances. Stormcrow's Buzznet site has a ton of photos as well, if you can't get enough.

Came home after 9 1/2 hours of theatre, crashed on the couch, and flipped around for something to watch.

Reruns of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Boring guests on Letterman.

Blade Runner on IFC (I've got the DVD, no point in watching it on satellite.)

And then I found it.

A new Michael Palin travelogue. Himalaya.

I've watched all of these since he first did Around the World in 80 Days, way back when.

He's my favorite Python member, and I can't get enough of watching him wander around the world in khakis and a blue button-down shirt.

That has to be the greatest job in the world. Go to far away places, talk to people about the lives they live.

The best present anyone could give me is a DVD collection of any of his shows.

His website is located here, if you're into this type of thing.

Five weeks until Europe....

One week until Romeo and Juliet is done, and I am not looking forward to it. I haven't had this much fun on a show in years.

One month and change and then I move out of the rectangle. I love this apartment. Everything I need is right here, but the time to rent is done.

I'll buy a place when I return from the Old Country, and serve some time down in the parents' basement until I find a place I like (and can afford.)

The one thing I don't like about the current place I live? No room to have a party. I can't invite any more than five people over at one time.

And I like to throw a good party.

I used to have the best parties when I was a kid. Pac-Man birthday cakes, and then Def Leppard videos on early MTV, then our first glimpses of sex on cable, and then full-out, balls-to-the-wall beer and babies and holes in the wall.

Not glory holes. Holes punched into a basement ceiling (above the sunken living room floor) by a silly high school basketball player that can't hold his liquor.)

The Hal 9000 is getting married next month and I cannot wait. Hal is the true hero of our Fellowship. More on that someday.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there: Dave, Doug, Bob, Jim, Dave (again), Vern, John, Mike, Howard, Drew, Jeff, Phil, Mike (again), Eric (come Thanksgiving), Jason, Odin the All-Father, and in remembrance, Bob and Bruce.

Oh yeah, one more thing: I've been working the booth at this Prairie Fest thing, and promoting Limelight, and we had our moment on the stage, but the biggest attraction was either The Buckinghams....

or the Journey cover band.

Peace, ya'll.

Today Limelight had the opportunity to perform a few small scenes from the upcoming season at Prairie Fest.



P-Fest is Oswego's summer carnival season, and I'm not a bit fan. There isn't much to brag about being from Sandwich, Illinois, but our yearly fair can beat any county fair hands-down.

One reason? The Sandwich Fair has the Big Pig. And Prairie Fest doesn't. 'Nuff said.

But anyway, back to our little presentation. All the big shows performed. Mallory and Kevin did the balcony scene, Alice did the Tea Party scene, and Oklahoma did the best job of all with a musical number (that farmer/cowman number.)

The kids all had a ball onstage, and I was very impressed and proud of all of them. P-Fest is a big pain in the ass to deal with (I also have to help man the Limelight booth and try and get people to buy tickets, t-shirts, and adspace in the programs), but a comment by one of the moms made it all worth it. "You did a good thing, Brian," she said, patted my arm, and walked away.

The sets are almost done, the actors know their lines, and we finally get the sound equipment on Monday.

Now if only Romeo and Juliet could learn how to act up a little passion towards each other...

Many of you know I love the long-gone series Sports Night. The other night I had a dream where a phantom scene appeared in my head, and at the same time summed up a recent thought I had about being a man in today's world, and how we interact with women. So I present for you a short one-act, done with some of the Sports Night players in mind:

Dan: I'm thinking about starting a new thing.

Casey: A new thing?

Dan: A new thing.

Casey: What kind of new thing?

Dan: Actually, it's not a new thing. I'm sort of, bringing back an old thing.

Casey: Like making sense?

Dan: (A beat.) Kissing women on the cheek.

Casey: What?

Dan: Kissing women on the cheek.

Casey: As opposed to...

Dan: I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about polite greetings. Friendly hellos. I'm thinking of making it my thing.

Casey: Your thing? [Editor's note: Aaron Sorkin likes repetition in his dialogue.]

Dan: My thing. You know, walk into the office, say hello, kiss the ladies on the cheek. Start each day on a high note.

Casey: And you think all the "ladies" will go for this?

Dan: Why not? Casey, women are longing for the days of real gentlemen to reappear. Holding doors open, buying them drinks, complimenting them on their appearance.

Casey: I do that anyway and look where it's got me.

Dan: I'm just saying, it's time for a little refinement to come back into society. A little class.

Casey: And kissing women you know on a semi-social level is going to do that?

Dan: It's a start. It's all about being a gentleman. Kissing women on the cheek is part of the gentlemen's repitoire.

Casey: Of which you are certainly an expert.

Dan: You're a cynic, my friend. A lonely, divorced cynic. Here, I'll prove it right now. Dana! What do you think?

Dana: (Entering and hurrying by the desk.) About what?

Dan: About my thing?

Dana: What thing?

Dan: My thing. You know, my thing. Weren't you listening to us as usual?

Dana: No Dan, I was getting our show ready to air in 15 seconds.

Dan: My plan to start kissing women on the cheek.

Dana: (Blank stare.)

Dan: You know, to bring back gentlemanliness. Class. Refinement.

Dana: And about twelve sexual harassment suits from the temps in marketing. (Walks away.)

Casey: (Smiling.) Sounds like class and refinement to me.

Dan: I'm not done with this.

Casey: Oh, I'm sure you are not. (A beat. Then, to the cameras:) Good evening, alongside Dan Rydell, I'm Casey McCall, those stories, plus, Detroit gets the spurs to them, the Cubs in Chicago get Bearish, and Phil Jackson kisses Kobe Bryant on the cheek. It's all part of the new gentleman-like conduct in sports. You're watching Sports Night on CSC, so stick around...


[It's not perfect, and I don't like the Dana dialogue, but that's a dream for you...]

As far as foodstuffs go, I could live on just turkey sandwiches, cottage cheese, and homemade chicken and noodles.

And Totino's party pizzas. I am obsessed with them again.

Got a nice busy weekend away from the theater...

Friday night went down to Payton's Roundhouse to see local cover band Mike and Joe. Even though Aurora is mostly Latino these days, all the young pretty people were out in full force. I think that if an ethnic war ever comes to the south suburbs, the Roundhouse will be where the last stand of white people will take place. They'll barricade the doors and surround themselves with overpriced local lagers, while dancing the night away to Weezer and U2 cover songs.

Saturday was spent at Di's graduation party and then at a cookout hosted by Naperville's Only Child. The night was spent stuffing our faces with brats and homemade ice cream sandwiches, and then a twilight round of croquet. Yes, we are white and we are old.

Sunday I cleaned the rectangle furiously and then had the Duders and A-Rog over for hot dogs and chicken on the grill. Duder and I broke out the pipes and we watched the Cubs lose to the Red Sox on ESPN.

The greatest thing about all these mundane, average events? Just the simple happiness that comes from spending time with good friends, pillowed by the underlying realization that none of us have to get up and go to work the next day.

Except Erica. And Nate. And maybe a stray person or two I forgot.

Poor bastards.

Right now it's good to be a teacher.

Wow...a long week is almost over. Started it with packing up two offices/classrooms and then jumped into the third week of Romeo rehearsals, along with two more shows starting up.

On Wednesday we had a bare stage; tonight our sets are built and primed; next week we add on the paint and details and start collecting costumes and props.

We also were accused of vandalizing one of the bathrooms (seriously...has anyone ever known a theatre geek commit vandalism? Maybe excessive delusions of grandeur, but that's about it.)

I also heard one of my usual players decided not to do the show this summer because he heard it was my last show, and he didn't want to be part of something ending. I also heard he's starting up a neo-Nazi group, so maybe my thoughts about theatre jocks being unable to commit petty larceny is a bit premature.

All this theatre talk may not interest you, but it's the only stories I have for you.

Below you'll find a mock-up of the poster for the show. I took the pictures and designed it myself. It's pretty basic, but it does a pretty good job setting the tone, I think. We'll see what our graphic designer does to it to make it jump out a bit more.



I more or less stole the poster design from an old movie poster. Bonus points to anyone who can guess which one (and no fair chiming in if I told you already.)

oh yeah, I almost forgot...

Summer vacation is here!

12 weeks of sleeping in, making coffee out of fresh beans and reading the paper all morning, staying up late watching movies and reading books...

Working with a great cast and crew on Romeo and Juliet, and overseeing three other productions...

Four weeks in Europe...

No staff meetings, no papers to grade, no dealing with ancient teachers and unruly parents...

I don't mean to rub it in, to all those that are at work today, but I don't make shit for money, so I figure this is my reward.

Ahh...summer vacation...

June 6, 1944.

To Remember.

Take this:



plus this:



plus this:



and you'll get an idea of where I'm going with Limelight's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

More later.

Today was the funeral of my great-Aunt Olive, known in my family as the historian of the family. She was the one you always went to about family history and amusing anecdotes about various aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents.

The funeral was okay, but it got me thinking about my grandpa's funeral from some years back. Grandpa's death was a sad blow to us all, but his funeral, to me, marks the most beautiful and graceful moment of my collective family's.

The most prominent memory I have of it is sitting in my mother's kitchen, while she discussed the music they picked for the service. She sat in the wooden chair by the window, and ticked off the songs: "Will the Circle Be Unbroken", "Wildwood Flower", and as she said the last one, "I'll Fly Away", her voice caught a little, and I felt an incredible connection between my grandfather, my mother, and myself.

Grandpa loved bluegrass music, and passed that love onto my mother, and along the way, I picked it up as well. And so the music they picked was just right. We had a woman come in and play those songs on a dulcimer, and it was just a beautiful thing.

Uncle Doug and Uncle Jim both got up and gave speeches. Doug gave the proper eulogy, as only he can, but it was Jim's recollections' of how Grandpa taught him how to farm and how to weld and how to do all sorts of things related to fixing things that I remember the most. Jim's last line, about how what Grandpa was really teaching him. "He was teaching me how to be a dad." It was beautiful and heartbreaking all at the same time, and it made me realize how my uncles were fathers to me so much more than my own dad.

I got up and read that part of the Bible about "for everything there is a season" and I lost it. I had never felt exceptionally close to Grandpa, but the power and presence of the man hit me hard as I faltered on the first few words, but my voice and composure returned and I got through it.

It may sound funny, but I'm so proud of the fact that my family knows how to do a funeral just right. We make it personal and let the right people say the right things, and we all gather 'round the kitchen table and eat lebanon sandwiches and drink beer and stay up late and make potato pancakes at midnight and honor the dead by remembering them every day in our actions toward each other.

I could feel that as I sat next to my cousin Jake and we squeezed into a bench and quietly cracked jokes and enjoyed our short time together, and knew that we were family.