Final Performance of Tom Dick and Harry

I'm sitting here trying to make photo discs and working on a cast and crew photo to give to each cast and crew member of the show in preparation for the final performance this afternoon. Audience response has been terrific. The play has met its budgeted ticket income goal and has been playing to full houses most of the run. I had a gentleman come up and ask me last night if all the wild action on the stage was in the script or if we made it up. Playwrights Ray and Michael Cooney deserve the credit for the dialogue and the ideas for the physical action. It is up to the director and the actors to interpret the words on the written page into something that comes to life onstage. That interpretation can be the difference between a great performance or an "ok" production. I have seen productions of plays where the actors were competent and the material was good but something was missing. Far too many amateur theatre productions are associated with that missing element. The cast of Tom Dick and Harry have many veteran actors and some new performers appearing in their second or third play. They have all come together to form an ensemble that all works together as one. That is something that is difficult to achieve but when it works the audience response is wonderful.

With live theatre you never know what will happen and watching the show as a director is like watching a tight rope performer. As a director I'm always slightly holding my breath with each difficult moment in the show. There is a sense of confidence that develops with some casts that no matter what happens the actors can stay on that tightrope. Last night Landon (Harry) kicked the head of the body parts across the stage for Al (Tom) to pick up then toss back in the bag. They've done this dozen's of times. The only problem was that Landon's aim was off and he kicked the head off the front of the stage into the audience. Without missing a beat Al walked down the steps in front of the stage, rescued the head and tossed it into the bag that Landon was holding without missing a beat. That little moment will surely earn Landon a Golden Screw Award nomination at the annual theatre picnic. The ability of everyone onstage to continue as if nothing had gone wrong was the mark of true professionals.

It has been a pleasure working with this cast and crew as we close out the final performance today. After the performance the cast and crew will tear down the set and then celebrate with a party on the theatre stage. I always get the questions from cast members if I have a favorite show. That is so hard to say. I've worked on lots of wonderful productions with so many wonderful people. Tom Dick and Harry will certainly be added to that long list.

For the staff of the theatre we are already into the rehearsals for The Best Christmas Pageant ever. Auditions for God's Favorite are tomorrow and Tuesday in the main theatre. The performers in Tom Dick and Harry will be able to feel that glow of their success for a long time. For the director, designers, and staff you get about 24 hours before you step back on the tight rope with the next cast and crew and try to do it all over again with a new production. Opening night for Best Christmas Pageant is about 30 days from now.

Searching applications

I have been struggling to get MHT information into certain places. My Iphone has a couple of applications like Where that will give you listings and directions to places close to you. While places like the Carson Center and Maiden Alley Cinema are listed on these apps MHT doesn't come up. What I've found is that a couple of sites are used to populate the information on these applications. If I can get some of the people who know MHT to write a review about the theatre that would help. You can go to Yelp.com and to the Yellowpages.com to write reveiws about local businesses in Paducah. Since it would be inappropriate for me to write a reveiew of the theatre I'm asking others to go on these sites and give MHT a review good, bad or indifferent. That way we will at least show up on some of the applications that people are using to find MHT.

photos and theatres

Today April and I ran up to Shawnee Community College to see the school matinee of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. A former MHT performer who grew up doing shows at MHT is now the Educational Center Coordinator and got us a couple of tickets. It was great to see him and some of the other people who occassionaly do shows at MHT. Willy Wonka is a musical and is a tremendously difficult technical show. April and I were interested to see the Shawnee theatre after hearing about it for several years and to see the production. April is doing a version of the show for Clark school. The Shawnee production must have had a 100 people in the cast. To coordinate that large a cast is a massive undertaking. We enjoyed the Oompa Loompa costumes (there must have been 50 Oompa Loompas) and the Wonka factory set was very bright and colorful. There were some sound problems in the performance we saw and we couldn't always hear. I saw in an Educational Center handout that Murray State University is bringing a Greek Play to Shawnee during this school year. I would be interested to see how that goes. I've always wanted to direct a Greek Tragedy.

Tonight was a performance of Tom Dick and Harry that was almost sold out with only 4 or 5 seats total left. I took photos tonight and probably have well over 200 photos of the show. Tomorrow is a 2 show day with a matinee in the afternoon and an evening show. I'll provide the food between shows tomorrow since the actors will only have about an hour between the end of one show and the actor call before the second show.

Marsha is now slowly coming back to the office after being gone for the first half of the week with an illness. She has been put on some new medication and it is making her very groggy. I've had several people ask me about buying chairs but Marsha has all the paperwork on those who have already purchased their chairs so she is slowly checking to see what is left that is avaiable.

April has Footlight tomorrow and then Daisy classes after the footlights classes until after 2:30. That means April will be teaching from 7:45 am. to about 4 pm.
That is a long day for her.

Ghosts and TDH

Phil Counts and I guided two more ghost tours this morning. Farley Elementary and Hendron Lone Oak Elementary has two classes working on history projects and thought this might be fun to give a different aspect to their projects. Hearing about witch burnings and grisly murders certainly will give a different view of Paducah's history. We tentatively have a couple more scheduled for next week. Guiding a tour is a lot of fun because you are in essence doing a one person show. The several guides we have all have different styles and personalities they use. I just like it because I get an excuse to walk around with a Victorian top hat and cape on. The kids eyes get really huge when you tell them a story that took place right on the spot they are standing. They tend to jump back as if the spot is still alive somehow.

The Rivers Edge Film festival kicks off tonight and for the first time it won't be at MHT. Back when the organizers changed the date to this weekend we had already scheduled and publicized Tom Dick and Harry. Maybe next year they will find an alternate date and we can work together again. I'm in the process of looking at shows and dates for September 2010-June 2011 right now. Sometimes I can't remember which year I'm really working on.

Audience response to Tom Dick and Harry has been very positive. We haven't sold out but the phone has been ringing consistently and Internet ticket sales are going well. We are still receiving orders every day for plaques for the new seats. The annual fund drive mailing went in the mail yesterday.

The theatre officially canceled our Holiday Home Tour yesterday. We were having a difficult time getting 3 houses confirmed. As soon as we got the third home confirmed one of the first two would have to drop out We will try again next year and see if we can get it locked in earlier! Those people who even considered letting us showcase their homes as a fundraiser have our heartfelt thanks.

I'm in the process of re-reading the script General Order Number 11 by Nancy Gail-Clayton. It tells the story of General Grant order all the Jews to be evicted from Paducah during the civil war. It is strong drama and one that we are considering for future production. I met Nancy at a theatre conference. She's had the work produced in Louisville and has always been interested in a Paducah production. Lately with the ghost stories and several other projects it seems like I'm looking at a lot of historical plays and ideas.

November 1, 1983

We left Kansas City on October 30, 1983 after packing up my belongings and April's belongings in Kansas City. We finished packing the U-Haul truck about 3pm in the afternoon. I had added a tow bar to the back of the truck and towed my gold American Motors Sport-About Hatchback vehicle (which was also loaded down). April followed in her loaded down Red Buick Regal. I remember we finally pulled out of Kansas City which had been our home and headed to Paducah. I had looked at a house about 3 weeks earlier that was across from Paducah Middle School. That house had fallen through and one of the board members at the time had secured a house for us on Clark Street with a 1 year lease. We took the house on the recommendation of a board member. All I had was an address in Paducah as to where April and I were going to live. April was going to stay for a week and then she was driving to Wisconsin to prepare for our Wedding which was set for Nov. 19, 1983. We drove as far as Mount Vernon that first day and then got a room at the Holidome there. We arrived in Paducah on Halloween and located the house. It was small but cozy. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I remember coming to the interview only a month earlier. The theatre was doing the technical rehearsal for the play The Rainmaker on the day I came for an interview. I remember following the directions into Paducah and pulling up outside of the theatre. I can still distinctly remember thinking- "where did they put a theatre in this tiny space?" When I walked in all of the actors were present. They were setting light cues and all of the actors had to stand in place while the lights were set. This process took several hours (something I changed immediately upon being hired). The floor was painted white so that it would reflect the lights up onto the actors. The floor was also made of particle board so that every time someone dropped something on it the floor dented. All of the canvas walls were painted with a powdered pigment paint that rubbed off on all the costumes if you brushed against it. In fact the side of the building still had some remnants of color on it from the last strike where the strike crew "washed" off the color from the flats so they could be used again. I met with the board of directors that night at Virginia Glover's home. I spent the night at Executive Director Paul Meier's home. His young son Cameron had given up his bedroom for me to sleep in while I stayed overnight and I remember sleeping on Smurf sheets. I had never set foot inside a community theatre before in my life and never worked for one either. Apparently the board was impressed with my portfolio of set, costume and lighting designs along with my technical director portfolio. I had directed and acted in plays and was a theatre generalist. I talked money with the board and then drove back to Kansas City. I received a call the next week offering me a job. I also had offers from two other professional theatres but there was something about Paducah that appealed to me. I accepted the job of Technical Director for $14,000 a year with no benefits (I also had to pay all my own taxes at that time). The theatre was celebrating its 20th anniversary. When the board asked me why I was interested in Paducah I told them that April and I were looking for a place to start a family and a place where we could become part of a community.

As April and I unpacked our belongings I went to work and began the set and costumes for my first production at MHT which was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which opened the first week of December 1983. Looking back now at the playlist from the very first one produced in 1963, Snow White was the 95th production that MHT had produced in its history. I designed and built the sets, designed and hung the lights, and designed and sewed all the costumes for the actors. (My biggest costuming at MHT was the first production of the Miracle Worker where I sewed over 20 dresses by myself. Some of those dresses are still in costume storage and occasionally used.) That first year the theatre produced 5 shows total. I directed my first show at MHT that April with the production of To Kill a Mockingbird.

In 1985 Paul Meier left the theatre and MHT hired April as its Executive Director. April held that position until 1995 when she left for a couple of years to work as the Youth Minister at Grace Episcopal Church. I took over as the Executive Director in July of 1995.

Tom Dick and Harry marks MHT's 510th production and my 100th show to direct at MHT. MHT has grown a great deal over the time I've been fortunate enough to be involved with it. The main thing that has remained is a group of talented people who continue to impress me with the dedication and donation of their time and money to produce professional quality theatre. The board of directors has always been supportive and caring. The staff and volunteers I work with each day are truly dedicated to making great theatre.

This month I will attend the National Community Theatre Directors Conference in Madison Wisconsin. It is a conference that never fails to recharge my batteries. Almost 100 Managing Directors from across the country will sit in a room for 3 days and share all of their successes and failures. We will also adjourn to a local bar after hours and over our favorite spirits share our personal stories complete with pictures of children and grandchildren with long time friends.

So this November 1, we have a hit show (Tom Dick and Harry) on stage at MHT, a youth show (Best Christmas Pageant Ever) in in rehearsal, a Story Theatre musical (The City Mouse and the Country Mouse)touring production that has its first school performance on Tuesday, and the River City Ghost Tours for school groups that continue on Thursday. The work hasn't slowed down a bit in 26 years. But the things that made me feel something special about MHT and Paducah when April and I first arrived on Halloween 1983 are still present today.

NY Times Article about learning lines

Whispers Offstage? Could Be Actor’s Next Line
By PATRICK HEALY
Published: October 28, 2009
Ticket holders at this week’s first previews of Matthew Broderick’s new Off Broadway play have been privy to a second drama: watching the veteran theater actor try to learn his lines, with help from a prompter sitting in the front row.

Veteran stage actors, including Angela Lansbury, have used prompts as fallbacks.
In 2002, Vanessa Redgrave asked if she could have a prompter in the front row for “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.”

Matt Mulhern said he was recently fired from a Hartford Stage theater production because he peeked at bits of dialogue.
The play, Kenneth Lonergan’s “Starry Messenger,” has been undergoing rewrites amid preview performances, and Mr. Broderick has struggled so much that he called out for lines multiple times on Monday and Tuesday nights. His offstage helper is expected to be on hand at least until this weekend.

The problems have led the show’s producer, the New Group, to delay opening night for a week; at the same time some audience members have complained about paying to see a star who has not memorized his part. Mr. Broderick was not available to comment, but Scott Elliott, artistic director of the New Group, said there was no shame in using a prompter. “It happens now and then,” he said, “but people simply don’t know about it.”

The stage and screen legend Angela Lansbury, for instance, said in an interview this week that she used an earpiece to stay on cue during her Tony Award-winning turn in “Blithe Spirit” on Broadway last season.

“It’s not something you ever want to do, but if we’re going to play important roles at our age, where our names are above the title on the marquee, we’re going to ask for some support if we need it,” said Ms. Lansbury, 84, who is set to star this winter in the Broadway revival of “A Little Night Music.”

But now the use of prompts has become a matter of inquiry for the Actors’ Equity union, which is investigating a recent dismissal by the Hartford Stage theater of an actor who peeked at bits of dialogue that he had taped inside his character’s hat for a difficult scene.

While opera companies have long had hidden prompters at the rim of the stage, many theater actors shudder at the idea of needing help with lines during performances. For them, mastery of a script is a benchmark of professionalism. Still, acting fallbacks have a long but largely unnoticed history in the theater. During the national tour of “Legends” in the 1980s, Mary Martin, who was in her 70s at the time, used an earpiece that also picked up taxi signals, according to published accounts.

In the Hartford Stage incident, the fired actor, Matt Mulhern, 49, was appearing in Horton Foote’s “Orphans’ Home Cycle,” a series of three plays over nine hours. Mr. Mulhern said he never received any warning from Hartford Stage that his job might be in jeopardy; “Orphans” is a co-production with Signature Theater Company in New York, where it is transferring next month.

In an interview, Mr. Mulhern described the prompt in his hat as a “crutch” that he relied on because of script changes during rehearsals. He said he had been “emotionally devastated” by his Sept. 22 dismissal, the first of his 27-year career. He also acknowledged he had “ruffled feathers” among colleagues for a variety of other reasons after rehearsals began in July.

Michael Wilson, the artistic director of Hartford Stage and director of “The Orphans’ Home Cycle,” declined to comment, saying the theater did not discuss employment issues. Maria Somma, a spokeswoman for Actors’ Equity, also declined to comment.

Hartford Stage has yet to give Equity a formal reason for firing Mr. Mulhern, according to the actor. Ms. Somma again would not comment on the matter.

“Actors being fired for this reason vary by the situation,” Harry Weintraub, general counsel of the League of Resident Theaters, which includes Hartford Stage, said in an interview. When asked if the production created hardships for actors because it spanned nine hours and included script changes, Mr. Weintraub said, “I wasn’t aware that Mr. Mulhern had nine hours of lines to learn.”

Actors’ Equity contracts do not forbid actors to use prompts, though directors sometimes fire actors who have trouble learning their lines. Robert Falls, the artistic director of the Goodman Theater in Chicago, said he had done so in the past. But he has also made adjustments, he said.

In 2002, for instance, Vanessa Redgrave was having “a stressful time learning the lines” for the role of Mary Tyrone in the Goodman’s production of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” Mr. Falls said. When previews began, she asked the producers and Mr. Falls if she could have a prompter in the front row with a script. Ms. Redgrave never called for a line, he said. She went on to win the Tony Award for best actress when the production transferred to Broadway in 2003.

“The prompter was more of a security blanket for Vanessa than anything else,” Mr. Falls said. A representative for Ms. Redgrave said she had no comment.

In the Broadway production of “The Gin Game” (1977-78), the characters played by Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn spent stretches of time playing gin rummy. The actors at first used randomly dealt cards with numbers that, naturally, did not match the dialogue. While the two spent extra hours drilling lines for the gin rummy sequences, they were both nearing 70 and had memory lapses.

“The initial solution for this was to pare down each scene, then write notes on the top of the card table” for the actors to refer to, said Nina Seely Sommer, the production supervisor for the show. “This was difficult, because the stage was raked so that the audience could see the top of the table, so these notes had to look like player graffiti.” Eventually the faces of the playing cards were sanded off, so the actors would not get confused.

Although prompters once played a part in theater, audiences are no longer accustomed to them. And with Broadway producers now charging $125 for orchestra seats, ticket buyers expect at a minimum that actors will know their parts. New wireless technology has made it easier for actors to mask, say, flesh-colored earpieces. Ms. Lansbury recalled that when she and Marian Seldes were on Broadway in Terrence McNally’s “Deuce” in 2007, a tiny speaker was behind their chairs in early performances to pipe lines to them if needed.

Ms. Lansbury emphasized, though, that neither the “Blithe Spirit” nor “Deuce” prompts diminished the productions — or audiences’ apparent pleasure.

“In the early days of theater, there was a ‘prompt corner’ with a person ready to throw the line to any actor,” Ms. Lansbury recalled. “In the electronic age, some 80-year-old performers wear earpieces. And all of us lose ourselves in a play at moments. Laurence Olivier did at the height of his career. This is part of theater.”

This season “A Steady Rain” is one of the most dialogue-driven plays on Broadway, with the actors Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig — who have extensive experience in the theater, not just movies — shouldering all 90 minutes of dialogue. A spokesman for the show said this week that neither man used prompts. Still, Mr. Jackman said in an interview in August that the amount of memorization was a tall order and that he and Mr. Craig even tossed a ball back and forth while running their lines.

“I hope we won’t have to use cue cards,” Mr. Jackman joked, then added, “It’s a slog to learn the whole script, but there’s no other way to do it.”

Bad Words

Before I get into my topic for this blog I want to promote the added Walking Ghost Tour dates. Thursday Oct. 29 and Friday Oct. 30 we have added a 6:00 and 6:30 pm ghost tour. Tickets are available online or by calling the box office.

Now on to my topic-
Thursday I received a phone message to call a woman who wanted to talk to the director of Tom Dick and Harry. Immediately I worried about why this woman wanted to talk with me. She had called the box office earlier in the week and asked if there was any "foul" language in Tom Dick and Harry. I told the box office to tell the woman that if the play were to be rated like a movie it would have language that easily fit into the G rating. We are not allowed to rate our plays based on the movie rating system because that is copyrighted by the Motion Picture Association and they don't allow "others" to use their rating system. The television ratings system are the same way and most people get confused by the TV ratings system. So trying not to use the movie ratings yet give this person some information, and keep my integrity, I used the words "if" the play were rated like a movie it would be rated G.



I wasn't going to get off the hook that easy apparently. The woman wanted to know specific words. This is like trying to have a conversation with someone about what constitutes foul language in code without actually saying the words. Other than the infamous "f" word what else constitutes foul language? Is it the "A" word, the "B" word, the "D" word, the "G" word, the "H" word, the "S" word, etc. etc... This conversation is like being in an absurdest comedy.


The woman called again and asked to speak to me. I was out of the office and returned her call. Generally I'm pleased that people call and ask about subject matter and appropriateness for children etc. This helps our ticket buyers make an informed decision. But deciding on foul language is a slippery slope.


So I began the conversation. My thoughts are in parenthesis.

Woman: I want to know if there is any foul language in the play.

Me: (okay just dive in and figure out what she is talking about) Well a couple of times during the play someone might say the word hell. Like "what the hell are you doing!"

Woman: Oh that's the worst thing that someone can say.

Me: (I can think of a lot worse words-okay now I have a better idea of where you are coming from) They also use the expression "Oh God!" sometimes.

Woman: Those are the two worst words you can use.

Me (When did asking God for help become a foul language word? I always thought that taking the Lord's name in vain meant that you tried to make money by connecting yourself to God. Nope don't say that to this woman!) I can't think of any other words that I would define as foul. (Some how I think she probably will find something else that I haven't thought of.)

Woman: Can you take them out of the play? I really want to come see this play but I can't come if those words are in it.

Me: Well that's a really difficult request.

Woman: Everything has so much foul language these days that I can't even watch TV.

Me: Well you see we sign a contract that says we won't change the language in a play without the playwrights permission. In Tom Dick and Harry the playwright has given us permission in the script to change the locations to help make the play easier to understand but hasn't given us permission to change the basic dialogue.

Woman: Well other places change stuff all the time. They take out words and music and add songs and do what ever they want to a play.

Me: I can't speak to what other places do. I can only tell you that we abide by the letter of the law. These plays are copyrighted and you are not allowed to change them. If you change them you run the risk of the publishing company finding out and then you run the risk of being fined or not being able to publish any of their authors in the future.

Woman: Well (she names a theatre in Western Kentucky) does it all the time.

Me: I'm sorry but we don't do that. When we choose a play, the play selection committee looks at the language in a play and tries to decide if it is within the standards of the majority of our community. They select plays knowing that we can't change the language. If they feel it is too much language then we don't choose to produce the play. We just finished doing Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming which was enjoyed by a wide range of ages and audiences.

Woman: You won't change those words?

Me: No, I'm sorry.


Woman: Then we won't be coming to see your play.


Me: I hope that you will consider coming to one of our other plays this season. I appreciate your calling and your concerns.

We ended the phone conversation.

We are in the process of play selection for next season right now. There are several wonderful plays that I'm sure audiences will love. Some of them do contain the words that this woman wanted me to remove. It is not just language. I've gotten letters from audience members upset that we have actors who pretend to drink alcohol onstage, we were once asked to stop a performance in Graves County because the husband of the owner of the company that hired our murder mystery troupe stopped the show and told the crowd he was standing up for Christian Morality when a character took a flask out of his pocket and pretended to drink from it (he had water in the flask). I really try not to pass judgement on other people's ideas of morality. But as the Artistic Director I work with the play selection committee to present plays that are positive and life affirming.

While someone may not always approve of every word or action in the plays we produce. I can promise that we will always respect another person's opinion and try to give an honest answer when we cannot honor their requests. MHT shows are enjoyed by over 30,000 people each year. I receive maybe 10 or so complaints during the past year. In our just completed surveys taken during Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming the audiences, who have come four or more times during the past two years, have overwhelming said keep up the good work!

One of the plays we tried to review for possible future production was a comedy by the writers of The Compleat Works of William Shakespeare Abridged. It is a show called "The Bible Abridged". I'm not sure we could do this play because it would get a "PG-13" rating (if we rated our shows like movies which we don't because we aren't supposed to). The Bible has lots of foul language, sex, violence and drinking in it. I can just imagine my phone already ringing .....