Tag Archives: acting

Community Theatre on Wrist to Forehead Sunday

Today I worked box office at Ilion Little Theatre for the last performance of Blithe Spirit, the first production of the 2026-27 season.  I thought I would run into difficulties, since many people are purchasing their tickets online and things are being done through a Tablet.  Yes, I have had a Tablet of my own for some years now, but I am not especially adept at it.

I was at first inclined to say, “I can’t learn it! I won’t learn it! Give me something else to do!”  But then I got over myself and agreed to try, and realized we could help each other. It did not seem as complicated as I had feared.  Then I ended up selling concessions, because I was more able to stand up for longer periods of time than at least one of the other volunteers.  Isn’t that awesome for me?  I did not audition for the play, because I was on crutches at the time and did not know how soon I would be off them.  By the time of the play, I could stand up for unspecified lengths of time.

This is how I should feel.: Yay!

I did not get any pictures of today’s play, but here is a picture from Four Old Broads on the High Seas, the play I was in with Players of Utica in 2025.  The woman in the foreground had the part I would have liked had I auditioned for Blithe Spirit.  In fact, I feel pretty sure the director would not have given to part to me over her.  But if she had NOT auditioned, and I HAD…  well, we can What If all day long.

Another appropriate photo.

The fellow in the middle was in the play today too, playing quite a different part from what he played in the Four Old Broads production.

One more picture!

And here is the little chippy my husband killed me for in Prescription: Murder.  She was also in Blithe Spirit.  That is one of the things that is so fun about community theatre: you see the same actors in different parts, and they are your friends, so you get to hug them after curtain call.

 

Post Post-Rehearsal Post

Yes, I neglected to make a blog post yesterday, in the morning or in the evening.  I don’t know why I feel so obligated to call attention to my shortcoming, but so it is.  Yesterday I was writing in the morning, just not on the blog (my side hustle, covering local board meetings for the Sentinel).  In the evening, I had rehearsal for Prescription: Murder, the play I am in at Ilion Little Theatre.

Me and my husband, till death do us part.

This picture is actually from last Tuesday’s rehearsal.  The director took a few pics of my big scene and texted them to me.

I don’t know what he’s looking so upset about.

I purposely bought the nail file for this scene.  It’s a fancy glass one.  I like to take a little trouble with my props.  I am having a lot of fun at rehearsals, and people seem to think I am doing very well with the character.  I need to do a little better with the lines, but I am working on that.

And that’s the end of me.

I did mention that I am the murder victim, didn’t I?  I guess I’ll end up spending most of the play backstage crocheting.  I feel fortunate I do not have to spend too much time lying dead on the stage trying not to sneeze.  It was my murderer’s idea to kill me so my body lies behind the couch, so the audience will not be focused on watching to see if I move.

Prescription: Murder will be presented March 29 through 30 and April 4 through 6, 7:30 p.m. on the Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. on the Sundays, at Ilion Little Theatre, Remington Avenue, Ilion, NY.  For more information you can go to their website http://www.ilionlittletheatre.org or visit their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ilionlittletheatre.

 

Prescription: Auditions

I just got back from Ilion Little Theatre, where I auditioned for Prescription: Murder.  I have not auditioned for a play since late summer 2023, so it was kind of a big deal for me.  After my bad experience on Sunday ( blog post titled “The Real Dangers of VD”), I parked on the street.  As I walked up to the door, trying to step in others’ footprints till I got to the shoveled part, I saw a friend scattering sand.  Phew!

Check out the raincoat!

Prescription: Murder was the premier of Columbo, who regular readers will recognize as one of my heroes.  I think I did a good job in my readings, but there were a lot of talented people there.

The set was from the previous play.

I asked people if they minded if I took pictures for blogging purposes, and they were very gracious about it.  Everybody was nice, clapping after each scene was read.

They were plotting!

If I don’t get a part, I hope to work on costumes, props, or backstage.  I just love community theatre and hope to become more involved.  Like the song says, there’s no people like show people!

Auditions continue tomorrow, Friday Feb. 7, at 6, if any local readers are interested in auditioning.  Performance dates are March 28, 29, 30,  April 4, 5 and 6, with Friday and Saturday shows at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

 

Once Again, I Return to the Blogosphere

Last week was a bad blogging week.  I actually have a couple of pretty good things to write blog posts about but not much brain with which to do so.  However, I wanted to make some semblance of a post so my readers would not feel I had completely deserted them.  My last post was a Monstrous one, I think (if I go back and read it now, I may lose my momentum and never finish this post) (which some would feel was no tragedy, but I can’t worry about them).

Random photo to liven things up.

I found this picture in March 2017 of my Media Library.  It is our sweet pooch Spunky.  Speaking of dearly missed loved ones, Sunday was my late husband Steven’s birthday.  That  could explain the funk I have been in.  Grief is a weird, unpredictable kind of chronic pain.  Of course, I am a kind of a pain myself, so make of that what you will.

Steve in his natural habitat, surrounded by murder suspects.

Here is a picture of Steve doing something he loved: acting.  He is the handsome dude in the suit.  It is the cast of A G.R.A.V.E. Murder, an interactive murder mystery we did to benefit the Herkimer County Historical Society.  It was a really fun show.  I am, of course, grateful for all the wonderful memories I have.

We really were the perfect couple.

One more memory:  Fabulous and Fatal, another murder mystery for the Historical Society.  We were drag queens, or thought we were.

I will try to follow this with posts about my Mohawk Valley Adventures, of which I have had a few recently.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

 

Murder Makes Me Feel Less Lame

I begin my Lame Post Friday post on Friday but fear I will not finish it till Saturday.  I am on my Tablet,  pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus.  Once again I am unable to add a headline.  That will be my excuse.

My real excuse, unfortunately, is that I have waited till too late and am too tired to make a decent blog post.  I guess that is not much of an excuse but is in fact the reason.

A picture from a long ago walk.

Once again I put in a picture to show the passage of time.  In the first paragraph I mentioned pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus, but I’m afraid I was letting predictive text do the talking, I mean typing.  I keep losing my stylus and have to use my fat finger.  It feels fatter on my phone than on my Tablet, but still.  My fingers are a lot more clever when they work together, as right now as I ten-finger type (I love typing; it is so much fun!).  There’s a metaphor for life:  everything is better when we work together!

And that, if you like, was a bit of half-baked philosophy suitable for Lame Post Friday.  Only I don’t think it was half-baked; I thing it is the truth.  For example, I felt much better about Lights, Camera, Murder!  after the cast had met and started working together.  It is going to be great!  My actors will make it great!

They ponder the clues.

Here is a shot of my last cast making Shooting at the Grange great.  I like working with a movie theme; it give us all a chance to be real hams.  Oh, who am I kidding?  We can ham it up in all my murder mysteries.

Who, her? Be a ham?

One more shot of a great actress.  I knew some of the lines I wrote were funny, but I didn’t know how funny till Mary Jane put her special spin on them.  I love theatre!

So I have gone from a late, lame post to raving about theatre, my own murder mysteries, and the casts that make them wonderful.  I think that is work enough for a Saturday morning, and I adjourn for another cup of coffee.  Once again, thank you for tuning in.

 

Still Making with the Memories

I make this post in haste. Posthaste.  It’s a word, although I daresay you do not hear it very often.  I indulged in Monday Memories,  but perhaps a Throwback Thursday Post would not come amiss.

Maybe I was a little over the top.

I just can’t help sharing another picture from The Tempest performed by LiFT,  Little Falls Theatre Company in August 2017.  Look how silly I am, in my yellow tights and purple cape, gesturing dramatically.  I had a lot of fun with that role.

My favorite co-star.

Here are my late, beloved husband, Steve, and I in the final vignette of Splitting Issues presented by Ilion Little Theatreplay (ILT) in 2016.  Those same chairs will be part of the set for The Man in the Bowler Hat,  the play I am rehearsing now at ILT.

Another favorite scene.

I am also pleased to share this shot of Steve and I in Harvey in 2012.  It was our big scene.

So three pictures of me, two with Steve.  I treasure the memories.

As a side note, the reason I am posting in haste is that I inadvisedly agreed to go into work at five tomorrow morning, so I need to get to bed soon.  I need my beauty rest!

 

 

About That Murder Mystery…

Regular readers may be anxious to know how our murder mystery turned out, and I kept them in suspense by neglecting to post either Saturday or Sunday.  Or perhaps I flatter myself.  For anybody just tuning in, I refer to Shooting at the Grange, which we presented to benefit Salisbury Grange on April 29.

She welcomes you to my blog post.

I foolishly did not get pictures of each character, but I did take a few shots while the actors mingled with the audience before the scripted part of the performance.

They got a big crowd.

Everybody seemed to be having a fine time.  For my part, I was a little uncomfortable, because I am usually one of the actors.  I wanted to be out there interacting with the audience, dropping clues and dissing the other characters!

The Grange volunteers were very sweet.

They served pulled pork, corn, potatoes, cole slaw and rolls.  The actors and I ate after the performance.  It was delicious!

I should have gotten a closer shot of that glamorous character.

The whole thing went pretty well.  The audience seemed to enjoy it.  The actors did a good job.  The Grange people are hoping we will return with another murder mystery,  perhaps this fall.

I personally need to take a break.  When I mentioned this to a co-worker on Friday (incidentally, I had named the victim after this particular co-worker), he said, “Then on Monday, you’ll say, ‘I have an opportunity to write another murder mystery.’ ”

Who, me? Write another murder mystery?

 

How About a Thursday Theatre Post?

OK, so my Thursday post is late too. Judge me if you are so inclined. I had rehearsal last night and, oh, other things. As I said yesterday (and other times), explanations are tiresome. Speaking of yesterday, for anybody who read that post (Wednesday’s, again, judge me if you must) and was wondering: I looked for those flowers on this morning’s walk. The flowers are still there, only of course I could not appreciate the purple color in the dark.

Never mind all that, on with my Throwback Thursday Post, with a little bit of Non-Sequitur Thursday thrown in, because, I like non-sequiturs. Some may point out that many of my so-called non-sequiturs are not truly so, but I have no inclination of semantic arguments this morning.

A wide view.

This is from the 2017 production of The Tempest by William Shakespeare, presented by LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company. The setting is Benton’s Landing, near the canal in Little Falls, NY. That will be the setting for Love’s Labour’s Lost, our current production, and it is where we were rehearsing last night.

A noble stance.

This gentleman was the King in The Tempest. I believe he plans more comic garb for his part in Love’s Labour’s Lost.

World’s most interesting Shakespeare guy?

The is one of my favorite pictures. The actor has longer hair now, but I think he is hoping to wear the same pants.

They were a fun pair, although they wanted to kill me. Long story.

Only the actor on the right is joining us for Love’s Labour’ Lost, and I believe she will be dressed quite differently.

I guess my Throwback Thursday turned into more of a Preview of Coming Attractions with very little of the Non-Sequitur about it. You’ll have that, especially in my blog. However I have reached 300 words, and I rather enjoyed this post. Let’s see if I can be on time for Lame Post Friday. As always, no promises, and thank you for tuning in.

Pre-Read-Through Post

I thought I would try for a blog post not late, not typed in at five the next morning. Hmmm… nothing is coming.

Tonight is the read-through for Game Show, the next play at Ilion Little Theatre. Steve and I both have parts. It is the first play we have done together, apart from murder mysteries, since 2016. We both have small but fun parts. Steven is the slime-bucket producer of the titular game show. I play Dolly, the feisty older woman who hopes to be a contestant. Some would say this is a stretch for Steven, not so much for me. However, although I admit to occasional feistiness, I do not think Dolly is all that much like me. Regarding Steven and slime-bucketry, I say nothing.

That was as much as I wrote at work today (while on breaks of course). Now I am sitting at my laptop, typing frantically before we have to go to said read-through. I am looking forward to doing more blog posts about the play, maybe even with pictures (must get to that upgrade for more space in my Media Library) (why is that taking me so long anyways? What’s my problem?) (Not enough blog posts in the world to answer that one!).

Where was I? Ah yes, 200 words. And an on-time blog post. Yay, me! On to the theatre!

I’m ACTING!

I have missed theatre! Last night, I took another step closer to returning to the stage when I attended a second rehearsal for an upcoming murder mystery!

Donate to Murder was originally scheduled for spring of 2020, as a fundraiser for the Herkimer County Historical Society. We all know how that went! It is finally back on, Saturday, Nov. 6 at the Herkimer Elks Lodge.

This is the poster.

We had to make a couple of cast changes from the original, but rehearsals are going well. We are rehearsing at the Elks Lodge. Those Elks are so nice! It is always better to rehearse in the actual performance space. A few more props to gather, a few more lines to learn, and we are in business. Show business!

I try to take a few pictures at our next rehearsal. In the meantime, I just wanted to briefly express my delight about acting once again!