Horseshoe Highlights

The McCants kids showing up their old man by yelling out his lines before he could.

AQ's reaction to additional verses of the Ode to Miss Polly - "There's something wrong with you."

Rebecca's "BRING IT!" to the crowd after one of her songs.

"You're depriving some village of their idiot."

Ashley's "Oh, look. It's raining popcorn again" as she helps Pappy on stage.

Ma's more "liberal" performance after 2 margaritas between shows. - "You Moron!"

The high 5's and "Good Show"'s throughout the performances.

"Oh, and Mrs. Chowder? Happy Mother's Day." - In pure EVIL as only Andrew can pull off.

Kissing the flats during the chase scene.

The tandem massages in the girls dressing room between shows.

Doing the white boy dance with AQ, Ashley, and Kala behind the flats waiting for our cue.

The perfect typecast of Stacie as the big nerd not everyone knew she was.

Darla going thru 4 accents during the same monologue.

AQ running full speed into David and nearly breaking her ankle.

Rachel Varnell's (age 9) absolute adoration of Blackjack.

Amber's heartfelt toast during our last dinner together.

The cast prayer before each performance.

Hanging out with the girls before the show.

"Hanging around" with the boys during the show.

LoW pouring his entire bag of popcorn over my head.

Watching Pam forget she was stage manager for a moment and enjoy a good ad lib before catching herself.

Mr. Larry's twitchy finger that killed the lights a little too soon. - Yea, Tech Rehearsal!

and...

Ross completely forgetting that he has the last line to end scene 2 during the last performance, which led to the fastest costume change in the history of the theater. Also, some of the best ad libing and scene stretching from the rest of the cast stuck on stage waiting for him.

It was a great show. Can't wait for the next one...

-Jos

"Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritation and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place." ~Mark Twain

Only Mostly Dead...

Sorry for the lag in posting. My beautiful, wonderful, exceptional, better-then-I-deserve Mac G-5 has been sick. And, as it is the exact-same machine from which I bring my messages to you, faithful reader, my sojourns into cyberspace have been rather limited.

Please know that I have thought of nothing but you, gentle reader, during this minor crisis. You, and the last few performances of Horseshoe, but mainly you. And work (seeing as how more than a few large jobs were on the hard drive of the sick computer in question), but you as well.

I hope you've been well in my absence. Hope that you've succeeded in your ventures to make the world a better place to live. That your dreams have been chased, or at least remembered. That you have strived to put right what once went wrong. Hoping that the next leap will be the leap home.

Take care, little ones, as Uncle Jos has many stories from his travels out in the black to share.

Until next time...

-Jos

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."  ~Lao Tzu

Half Way There...

So, due to an unexpected delay in my travel plans, I was able to join my beloved Apocalypse Queen on stage with the rest of those bloody thespians of WOMP for their performance of The Saga of the Golden Horseshoe. The thing is, while the rest of the (very talented) cast had over 5 weeks of rehearsals and bonding, I got all of 5 days. Good thing I only have a handful of lines and simple set blocking.

We've already run 4 of the 8 performances, and they've been wonderful! We've been blessed with great crowds for each show, and the cast is jelling quite well. I'm particularly fond of the work by Ross (the Sheriff), Rebecca (the Singer), and Ashleigh (the Reporter). And of course, my AQ (the Boss lady).

All in all, it's a fun melodrama with a great cast. It'll be nice to have a break this week (didn't get home until after midnight any night last week, it being production week and all), but I will miss the camaraderie we've shared the past few days.

If you can make it, we have 4 more shows this weekend: Friday, the 19th, at 8pm, Saturday, the 20th, at 2:30pm and 8pm (please come to this one, as we haven't sold many seats) and Sunday, the 21st, at 2:30pm.

Hope to see you there!

-Jos

"Acting: An art which consists of keeping the audience from coughing." ~Ralph Richardson

"And Special Thanks To The Dallas Police Department..."

We celebrated Sparky's birthday last night, and it got me to remembering...

It was a hot and balmy August night in Big D. It was finals week at AID, and the Scosa's needed a passing grade in our favorite class, Intro Humanities, taught by the great and mighty, tree-hugging, hippie-turned-educator, the one and only George DeLuca. Our assignment was simple, create a work of "art." It could be anything. A poster. A painting. A scarf. A poem. A movie...

You see where this is heading, don't you?

Well, Sparky was (and still is) an aspiring young filmmaker, and he had a "brilliant" idea for a short film. As this was 1992, and a certain "dark knight" had just "returned" to the silver screen, and...God, it hurts to even write this...and, well, he did have the big rubber bat-suit hanging in his closet. Don't ask. It's better you don't know why.


Anyway, Sparks had access to...well, to the roof of the Tom Thumb that he worked at. To make a long story only slightly shorter, Sti-Fu and I found ourselves dressed out in black with leather jackets and prop machine guns.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Jos, why on earth would you and Sti-Fu, seemingly intelligent and responsible adults, go out of your way to involve yourselves in such a ridiculous endeavor? Weren't warning signs flashing in your heads?"

Well...I...yeah. I got nothing. Just stupid, I guess. Happens to the best of us.

So, it's around 10:15 PM on a Tuesday night, and our little band of gorilla filmmakers are on the roof setting up a shot. My character, Spike, was positioned on the opposite end of the scene, so I have a better view of the parking lot below us. As I'm waiting for my close-up, I notice what I first take to be a red strobe light out of the corner of my eye. My curiosity stroked, I glance down to street level and feel my blood turn to ice water. There's a cop car with it's flashers on.

I'm just about to say something when a large spotlight turns on behind me and I hear a rather loud voice behind me shout: "You! In the leather jacket! Drop your weapon and lie down on your stomach with your arms above your head!"

The voice didn't sound like Sparky's.

Some 10 minutes later, we're down in the parking lot with some 15 cop cars and more police officers I've ever seen in my life. Turn's out that while Sparky did work at Tom Thumb, he didn't work at the one we were currently jumping around the roof of with very realistic looking guns. Now, he and the owner had made an arrangement at some point in the past, but nothing was ever confirmed. At least not for that night.

Now, as bad as it was for Sti and myself, hot Texas night wearing leather and all black, I somehow think Sparky had it worse. You see, he was still in the bat-suit.

I'll give you a moment to let that mental image set in.

Yeah, for the next 3 hours everyone had pictures taken and "Hey, boys, we just captured the Batman," became a mantra we couldn't escape.

While we didn't go to jail that night (I can only imagine what would have become of Sparky in holding) it did make for a long drive home.

We did finish the film, and Sparks made an "A" I believe. (Sti-Fu and I had to make our own projects as the movie only counted for Sparky) And we made sure to add a special "thank you" to the credits...

Happy B-Day, Sparky!

-Jos

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." ~Albert Einstein

May The 4th Be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day, everybody.

And, a gift from George!

It's been a long time coming, but it looks like we'll finally get the original, non-special edition Episodes on DVD in September!

Oh, happy day...

-Jos

"What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen." ~Cynthia Ozick

Jo'T Birthdays Of The Week

30th April - JJ

1st May - Sparky

3rd May - Blondie



"The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age." ~Lucille Ball