Deathtrap

This is one of those better late than never posts. A.J. and I went to see Deathtrap at Sunset Playhouse last night. It was awesome. The cast did an amazing job. There wasn’t a weak performer in the bunch. The gentleman that played Sidney Bruhl (Paul Troglia) had several wonderful scenes where it was just him on the stage performing some complicated actions with very little dialogue. Those were some amazingly believable.

We went to the show to support our friends, Mark Neufang and Donna Daniels. A.J. and I have both had the opportunity to perform with both of them in various shows. They were both incredible in this show as they are in everything they do. I can’t really tell you what they did because the show is a suspense thriller and I don’t want to ruin it for others.

On a side note, we saw many friends while we were there. And I even got to meet Jonathan West (Artsy Schmartsy), the Managing Director at Sunset. I have been reading his blog posts for years and it was nice to finally meet him. It was quite an enjoyable and “thrilling” evening. There are only two performance of the show left today. If you can get away, go see it today!!!

Letterboxing At Boxacon 2009

The Dramagoons have discovered a new hobby that has become a fun activity for our entire family. Back in August we started Letterboxing. What is Letterboxing, you ask? I could try to explain it in my own words but here is the definition that is posted on Letterboxing.Info.

Letterboxing is growing hobby that combines elements of hiking, treasure hunting and creative expression into an activity that the whole family can enjoy. Participants seek out hidden letterboxes by following clues that are posted on the Internet, and then record their discovery in their personal journal with the help of a rubber stamp that’s part of the letterbox. In addition, letterboxers have their own personal stamps which they use to stamp into the letterbox’s log book.

Since mid-August, we have gone out and found boxes on six separate occasions. This is a really fun way to get out and enjoy the outdoors and get some exercise without feeling like you are just going on a boring hike. A.J. and Erin really enjoy tramping through the woods and hunting for the boxes. We actually have to make them take turns looking for the boxes.

Normally, letterboxing is a fairly solitary hobby. The person that creates a letterbox doesn’t meet the people that search for their box. Their interaction takes place via stamps and trail names in each other’s log books. Occasionally, however, letterboxers will get together to meet, exchange stories, and do a little letterboxing together. On Saturday, we attended our first letterboxing gathering, Boxacon 2009.

The event was held at Minooka Park in Waukesha. The event organizer, with the help of several others, placed dozens letterboxes all over the park. Upon arrival, we were given a packet of clues to follow. Most of the boxes followed a SciFi theme, thus the name Boxacon. Unfortunately Kristi had to work and couldn’t join us but the three of us had a really great time. The kids enjoyed meeting, talking, and exchanging stamps with the people that had created some of the boxes that we had found in the past. Plus, we got to go out and find more boxes. We ended up spending almost five hours at the park.

If you are interested in checking out letterboxing as a hobby, visit these two websites: Letterboxing North America and Atlas Quest.

Great America

Lately, I have been swamped with so many things going on that I haven’t been able to take the time to update the blogosphere. Therefore, I will endeavor to catch up with a few delayed entries.

A couple of weeks ago (two days after the A.C.T. Summer Showcase), I took Monday off and we went down to Six Flags Great America. We are not a “coaster” family but Erin and Kristi don’t mind the tame ones and A.J. and I enjoy all but the most extreme ones.

The whole family rode the Whizzer (roller coaster), the Columbia Carousel, the Sky Trek Tower, and the bumper cars as well as caught the Bloopers show in the Pictorium. A.J. and I also spent time on three more roller coasters: the Demon, the Viper, and the American Eagle. The crowds were minimal because it was a Monday and we had a really good time.

As we were driving home, I realized that the last time I was at Great America was when I was in high school in 1983. I remember that on that trip, I rode the Whizzer, the Demon, the American Eagle, and the Sky Trek Tower and I took in a show at the Pictorium. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

More Food On A Stick

On Saturday, we made our annual family pilgrimage to the Wisconsin State Fair. We enjoyed all of our favorite destinations while there. Our first stop is always the animal barns. Every year, we visit a different set of animals. This year, we focused our attention on the horses and the cows. We even stopped in to see the Clydesdales and their world famous beer wagon provided by Anheuser Busch.

After the animals, we made our way to our favorite stops; cream puffs, mini-Journal Sentinel newspapers, Wisconsin Products building, and DNR area. We made a departure from our usual rounds this year. We stopped off to see those fabulous racing pigs. That is not an event that we need to see every year but it is entertaining every once in a while. Along the way, we continued a tradition that we started last year.

Our new tradition is that everyone in the family has to eat something on a stick, it has to be different than what anyone else has, and, if possible, it has to be different than what that person had the year before. Erin kicked off the tradition by having a chocolate dipped frozen banana on stick, otherwise known as a Monkey Tail. She really enjoyed it. A.J. quickly followed her by eating two slices of chocolate covered bacon on a stick. This was heaven for him as it combined two of his favorite foods. Kristi had a deep fried Reuben on a stick that she said wasn’t the greatest but the cheese was okay. I finished us off with two different items on a stick. I started out with pork on a stick; which was good but not very unique. As we were preparing to leave, I found chocolate dipped cookie dough on a stick. Wow, that was sweet.

We finished our trip with a trip across the park on the SkyGlider, a glass of Herb Kohl’s 25 cent milk, and one game each at the Midway. The kids came to the conclusion that the Midway is a rip-off and we have removed it as a traditional stop. All-in-all it was a successful trip to state fair again this year.

The World’s Stage Theatre Company

For our second successive Friday night, A.J. and I again ventured out to a theatre performance. And again, it contained some Shakespeare. We went downtown to the Tenth Street Theater to see A Little More Than Kin as performed by The World’s Stage Theatre Company. This is a new company composed of twelve high-school aged artists from this area that have worked together in the past at Milwaukee Shakes, the Skylight, or First Stage. This was the first show of their premiere season.

As they are a fledgling organization and couldn’t afford to pay the royalties on an existing work, they wrote the show themselves with a little help from the Bard. The show had that Noises Off quality of being a show about rehearsing for a show. In this case, the show that they are rehearsing for is a compendium of Shakespeare scenes. Those scenes were intermixed with scenes about the actors’ relationships with each other as they rehearse a play that opens in a week.

I have to say that these are some of the finest youth actors I have seen in the area. I understand that one of them will be attending Julliard in the fall. They handled moving between the actors that they were playing and the difficult Shakespeare with ease. I will certainly support any of their future endeavors. I would have to say the script was pretty good for a first effort. It was much better than some of the efforts produced by adults. The rehearsal scenes were filled with the type of relationship drama that seem so very important to teenagers but not so much as we grow older. Other than that, it was very good. It contained lots of humorous situations that really brought the audience into the show.

Congratulations on your first effort. Keep up the great work. If you do, I may be auditioning for you one day.

First Stage Theater Academy

Last Friday, A.J. finished up a four week class at the First Stage Theater Academy. I am very impressed by their program and I am glad that we have such an amazing opportunity for our kids here in the Milwaukee area. A.J. took their two week course last summer and had such a great time that he asked if he could take the four week course this year. The course runs all day and is broken into four parts each day: Acting Theory, Musical Theatre, Improvisation, and Shakespeare. I’m sure that I don’t have those names exactly correct but they describe the subject matter in each class. On the last day of the program, they put on a presentation to demonstrate all of the things that they have learned. It is so cool to see all of these kids get up in front of an audience to sing, dance, and act. Most kids their age would be scared to put themselves out there like that.

The director of the Academy, John Maclay, indicated that this program is one of the largest professional theatre training programs in the country. Its instructors consist of professional theatre actors and directors that aren’t working on any shows during the summer. It is interesting that their true purpose is not to train a bunch of budding actors. Their real goal is to help the students to become better people. Their motto is teaching “life skills through stage skills.” Because of the structure of the program, there are no cliques and there is no teasing or bullying. That message is reinforced at the beginning and end of each day by the director of the Academy as well as by all of the instructors in the classrooms. How cool is that!

One of the other classes that the First Stage Theater Academy puts on during the summer is called the Company Class. In this class, the students spend four weeks (all day) rehearsing a play that they present two performances of during the final weekend. This weekend, we saw one of the Company Classes put on The Foreigner. Our whole family really enjoyed the show. It was wonderful to see what they accomplished in four weeks. In the last year, we have attended both a play and a musical put on by our local high school drama department and I was amazed at how much better the kids of the Company Class production were. Even though they were the same age as the high school students, the training and direction that they received from the class really showed when they were on stage.

Congratulations to John Maclay and the entire First Stage Theater Academy staff for putting together a terrific program and sticking to their principles.

WCT 2009-2010 Season Preview

On Sunday, Waukesha Civic Theatre had the first of two season preview parties. The two hour long event was like being able to see the “movie trailers” for the upcoming theatre season. Except that the trailers were performed live and there was free food. In fact, the whole event was free. How cool is that? Area actors and directors volunteered to stage short scenes from each of next season’s Mainstage and Holiday shows as well as the Random Acts of Entertainment. There were eleven scenes in all. A.J. and I were lucky enough to perform in two of the scenes. It was a really fun time and everyone involved did a fantastic job. What I like about this event is that the patrons can get an idea of what to expect from the upcoming season and, if they like what they see, they can step out to the box office and order their tickets right away.

The second preview party is this Thursday, June 25th, at 6pm. So, if you are tired of worrying about what’s going to happen at the Skylight and want to see a free preview of some really great shows, call the WCT box office at (262) 547-0708 is reserve a spot as soon as possible. There is quality entertainment happening out in many of the suburban community theatres. You should check it out.

NUMATS Award Ceremony

Last Saturday, Kristi and A.J. drove down to Evanston, IL to attend the NUMATS award ceremony at Northwestern University. As you may recall, A.J. received an award last month for being among the top 5% of all the Wisconsin 7th graders that took the ACT this year. The ceremony on Saturday was at the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University. It was to honor those that scored in the top 1% to 2% of test takers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

A.J. received another medal and certificate plus he was mentioned in the first sentence in an article in the Sussex Sun. That boy sure does have a bunch of “smarticles”. I wish some would rub off on me. We are really, really proud of you, A.J. Keep it up!

WCATY

On Saturday, we traveled to Madison to attend the WCATY (pronounced “wickety”) award ceremony. For the past few years, A.J. has been identified as being academically talented (unlike his father). That means that in school he gets to take advanced math and advanced literacy classes. I’m sure he doesn’t see getting harder homework assignments as a benefit. Additionally, he has been invited to take some of the standardized tests early. In 5th and 6th grade, he took the EXPLORE test (A college readiness test for 8th and 9th graders) and this year he took the ACT for the first time. This testing is part of NUMATS (the Northwestern University Midwest Academic Talent Search). This is a program from the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University that identifies talented students and creates activities to keep them challenged.

A.J. scored in the top 5% of all the Wisconsin 7th graders that took the ACT this year. In recognition of that accomplishment, WCATY (the Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth) invited him to the above mentioned award ceremony. WCATY is similar to the Center for Talent Development, but is based in Wisconsin. At the ceremony, A.J. and about 150 other 4th through 8th grade students from Wisconsin were recognized and received medals and certificates for their achievement. Way to go, A.J.!!! Keep up the great work!

Whad’ya Know

Almost every year in late February or early March, the Dramagoons take a weekend trip out of town. It is usually a fairly inexpensive trip for the express purpose of getting out of the house during the winter doldrums. This year’s trip was to fabulous Madison, WI and the taping of the Whad’ya Know radio show for public radio.

Friday night, we stayed in a wonderful new Hampton Inn on the west side of Madison just off Mineral Point Road. Our room was amazingly spacious and nicely decorated. We swam in the pool that resembled a very, very small waterpark. And we were treated to a wonderful free breakfast in the morning. Several of the nights on our trip to Pennsylvania last summer were also spent in Hampton Inns. I have to say, they are awesome places to stay and our hotel of choice for the future.

Saturday morning, we awoke to four to six inches of snow on the ground; which was the only negative part of the whole trip. We made our way down to Monona Terrace after breakfast and arrived well before the show started. The show was really great. Michael actually talked to both Kristi and I. During first half of the show, he was answering someone else’s question about Snuggies when he asked if someone in the audience had one. As I had just bought one for Kristi’s birthday earlier this month, I got to answer his questions on Snuggies. In the second half of the show, he talked with Kristi about the question she had submitted.

In the afternoon, we went to Ultrazone Laser Tag to play a couple of games. There equipment wasn’t as nice as the stuff at Lasertag Adventure and the layout of the arena was much different. It was more maze-like which allowed you wander all over without giving anyone a clear-cut advantage. I still think I like Lasertag Adventure better but it was fun to try something new.