Last Friday, I stayed after work an extra 45 minutes. I was chatting with my friend, Mike, and the conversation was on a roll. It was one of those conversations that are usually fuelled by alcohol, although this one was not. We talked about life, friends, family, mortality and things we wanted to do “one…
Often the process of reaching a goal is straightforward and progress is definitely incremental. Sometimes, it’s a little less obvious and for every two steps forward, you take one step backward. And sometimes, you get to a point for every step forward, you take TWO steps backward. Or at least it feels that way… My…
My update for April was very brief. I was trying to complete it minutes before the month of May ended, so I was under a bit of a crunch. It made me realize that it is much better for me to do these updates as early in the month as possible. If I work on…
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana I originally meant to write this post a couple of weeks ago, but a Christmas cold grabbed hold of me and refused to let go. Although the cold is still lingering, I figured I better get this post done before January ended.…
It’s the morning after the night before… Actually, it’s the “evening” after the night before. Last night, I had a public reading of the play (“Out to the Folks”) I’ve been working on for two years. And I’m still basking in the afterglow… However, I don’t want to fall into the trap that I usually fall…
Last week, I was invited to go see some young poets read from their works at a Chapters store. My friend Kevin teaches grade two in an elementary school and runs a writing club after classes. He had arranged the reading. The club is made up of kids from grades 3 to grade 8. I…
The Good, the Bad, and the Mean As artists we put weeks, months and sometimes years into a project and present it to an audience. A reviewer sees it once and, depending on their skill and time pressures, writes something in a fraction of a fraction of the time we’ve spent on it. Sometimes…
The currency of a Fringe Festival is word of mouth. And reviews of shows are what get carried by word of mouth. Tom Mackan is a familiar presence in the Hamilton area theatre scene being a well known director, actor, reviewer and general encourager of Theatre. He won the Theatre Ontario Maggie Basset Award in…
When you rehearse a play, you spend weeks with the same people going over the script, learning lines and testing out blocking. It is an insular experience and after a while, it is easy to feel that you don’t have an objective view about the piece that you are working on. Something is missing… You…
The countdown is on and the campaign has begun! For the next two weeks or so, I will be living, breathing and spouting about the Hamilton Fringe and my show Mommy’s Mask. Let me apologize in advance for getting on your nerves. Advertising for your Fringe show is a delicate balance of informing and annoying…
peter gruner 