| Thanks, everyone, for the kind words. Yes, they're all my kids; doesn't every teacher feel that way? Dan's one of the oldest, actually. He was a junior when I came to Otterbein in 1992, and he was the stand-in for the late and great Ron Richardson who played Jim for our production of BIG RIVER, my first at OC. Can you imagine a skinny white kid standing in for Ron, who won a Tony for that role on Broadway? But we couldn't afford to bring Ron in until ten days before we opened. So I created all the blocking with Dan, and he couldn't have been more generous about all of it. No attitude whatsoever. I haven't seen SPELLING BEE yet, but one of my colleagues (Ed Vaughan) saw it last week and said it's charming. Not a great piece of work; but he agreed with the NY Times reviewer, that it's honest, heartfelt, and not in the least pretentious.
Thanks, too, dancersmom, for catching the notice in the paper about Sherri Nierman. She graduated in 1997, did (I believe) an MFA in stage management at CCM, then worked on the west coast before coming back home to be the PSM at the Human Race Theatre in Dayton. We were all devastated when we heard two weeks ago. She was much too young.
Gkoukla and Vocaldad: I passed your greetings on to Debbie. I suspect she'll be stunned. I'll let you know. We are very, very pleased to have her with us. One of the most positive people I've ever met.
Catsmom: I will have space in LA. My assistant just sent me the list, and I have room. So do drop by and say hello, and I'll sign your d up for an audition. By the way, I also have some space in San Francisco on Saturday afternoon if any of you in the Bay area want to come by. |