Paper pushing and theatre productions seem to go hand in hand. There are myriads of things that go into a production, everything from audition forms and cast lists to sign-in sheets and line notes.  As a relative novice to theatre and a seasoned professional in the software industry I began a search to find a software tool that could help me handle some of the paper and communication.   Much to my surprise, my searches did not include a lot of choices.   One product that I did find is called Line Notes by a company in Austin Texas called Thank You 5.  (Interesting name – “Thank You 5” is the courteous response and acknowledgement to a stage managers announcement of “5 minutes to places”.)

This posting is the first in many of a review of my experience with this software while working as an Assistant Stage Manager on a local theatre production.

My first experience with the software… 

When you go to the website there is a free download.  Don’t get too excited though because the download is limited in that you must use their sample data.  Nothing you do will be saved and so “trying it out” really isn’t possible if you are working on a production.  You can certainly try out their sample data but I found it to be really difficult to evaluate since it dealt with things that I was not familiar with.   My resolution to this problem was to simply contact the company and ask them if there was a way to test with my data and they graciously offered me temporary license after explaining to me that their current licensing mechanism just doesn’t support a “timed” trial model.

To license the software you must be connected to the Internet.  It makes a connection to their servers to validate that the license key that you are using is not being used on some other machine.   The licensing model is such that Line Notes can be used on a single machine at a time.  You can release the license (again while being connected to the Internet) so you can license another machine but you need to be aware that you should perform the appropriate exports if you expect to want to use your data on this other machine.  Data files were not accessible that I could find, and I didn’t really ask.

Once I was licensed it walks you through a process of setting up your first production.  You can step through each of the steps to get the basics completed and you don’t need to worry if you can’t get it done because you can come back to any of these functions that the first time “wizard” performs at a later time.

The line notes main interface page is quite simple and revolves around a rehearsal for a specific production.  Multiple productions can be setup and maintained at the same time and when you first open the Line Notes application it presents you with the production window asking which production you would like to work on, or which production related activities you would like to perform.  Since I only have one production running I just double click on my production and I am presented with the main interface page.

After creating the production the next important piece of business and the real reason for an application like this is to create the “people” that you will be communicating with.  Since Line Notes integrates with a script (more on that in future postings) you also need to create a link between the person and the role that they play in the production.

Adding the Production Staff is quite simple… Just select Production on the main interface “ring” menu and then select Production Staff List. (You can also use the Line Notes menu item and Address Book – The difference is there is not “Position” in the address book. -  This is a great feature if your production team repeats from production to productions) This opens a new window that will show you all of your staff defined in the right pane and a data entry form on the left.  Fill in the form, click on Add and it will move the person from the form into the right pane.   If you need to edit you click on the person in the right pane, click on the edit button it will pull the information to the left, where you make modifications and when complete you press Update.   Very clean, easy to use interface.

There are a number of challenges that I ran into.  All would be future feature requests that in my opinion would make the product better and suited to more theatres.

1.  There is not a lot of information about each of the production team members.  I would have liked to see more phone number spaces, home address, perhaps some user defined fields where I could keep track of things like vocal range, dance training, prior productions, etc.

2.  The “Position” field is also hard coded and not customizable so you have to use those that are provided.  They have most of what you would need but I found I would have liked to add a category or two simply for how I want to send out notes.

3.  Your production team can not be assigned to two different positions so you have to duplicate the records in the production database.   If you have an Actor that is also a Stagehand for the production there will be two entries for that person’s name instead of 1 entry with multiple positions.

4.  There is no reporting.  With the limited data fields I’m sure it was thought that it was not important but I found I was having to export the data to find out who hadn’t provided me an email address so I could go back in and update.

Next came the cast.  This is where you define who the character is, the names associated with that character in the script, and which of the Actors from the Production Staff play the part.  The interface is the same as you had with the Production Staff.  Characters and their assignments on the right and the form to complete on the left.   From the Production menu in the Main Interface you simply select Cast List and you fill out the form.   A nice feature if you are going to interface to a script is the ability to put the character name(s) as they are found in the script.  This will allow Line Notes to then create a line note from the script and send it to the appropriate actor without forcing me to use a long name.  For example in casual conversation and in discussion of the script we may use a common reference to Grady but in the script it defines him as Daryl Grady.  Line notes can work in this situation without a problem.

Again, I had challenges (I want it ALL in a software package)

1.  I would have liked additional fields… For example I can assign two actors to the same role which I may need to do because one is the understudy.   This functionality is allowed but there is no way to identify the reason there are two assignments.

2.  When making a duplicated assignment you are forced to type a character name even if the character is already defined.   Having a pull down list of character names already defined in the production would be nice.   I’m lazy I don’t want to have to type “Male Ensemble” or “Female Ensemble” over and over and over again for each of the ensemble members.

3.  Allow me to turn off the are you sure dialog after the first couple of warnings.  “Yes I know I already have someone assigned to Female Ensemble and Yes I do want to make this assignment again.”

In my next posting I will describe how I have started using the application even though we are still in music and dance rehearsals and I’m not doing true “line notes”.   We are definitely using it for production notes and find it is quite efficient.

I have also included some screen shots below.

Line Notes Production Window

Line Notes Main Interface Window

Line Notes Production Staff Window

Line Notes Cast Window

The article that your will find below was emailed to me.  I’m not sure when it was published but there is some interesting truth in what Charlie Reese discusses.  These 545 people create problems that they then need to find creative ways to solve.  Most of the creativity as of late is to spend money on the problem and money never solves a problem.  It just digs a deeper hole that we need to try to crawl out of…  We all need to seriously think about learning to speak Chinese…they own this country and are buying our debt and funding the agendas of the 545.  Things in life aren’t free and we need to stop!!! Take our hard knocks and start to rebuild.   The 545 need to remember the founding principles of this country… and those that don’t need to be gone!  It is your responsibility… VOTE them OUT!

By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.  Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don’t propose a federal budget.  The president does. You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does. You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one  president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human  beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague  this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.   In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank. I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.. They have no legal authority.  They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.  I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.  The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

For a new wine maker or in my case for my jump back into the hobby in the late fall when hand picked fruit is not readily available, I would recommend that you try a wine kit.   There are a lot of these out there from various manufacturers.   They contain virtually everything (except equipment and bottles)  that you will need to make a batch of wine.

In this post I will spend a few minutes talking about the equipment.  This may seem like a lot of stuff but really it isn’t and for usually less than $100.00 you can get yourself setup pretty well.

Equipment List:

Primary Fermentation Container – for standard 6 gal Carboys this should be a food grade container that is around 10 gallons in size and has a cover.  Primary fermentation will “foam” as it release CO2 and depending on the juice, the amount of foam varies.  You also want to keep airborne things out of your juices which is why you need a cover.

Carboy – This is the glass (sometimes plastic) container used for Secondary Fermentation.  Usually 6 gallons in capacity.  Narrow neck.  You are going to put an airlock on this container during secondary fermentation to keep out the oxygen.

Airlock and Stopper – These come in various shapes and sizes.  You will want a stopper with a hole drilled in the middle that will accommodate the airlock.  The purpose of the airlock is to allow gasses to escape from the Carboy but to not let any air back in.  Most versions I’ve seen float a plastic “cap” in a sulfite solution over a hard plastic tube that exits the carboy.

Long Handle Spoon – bet you know what this is for.  If you guessed stirring you are absolutely correct.  You should be able to reach to the bottom of your primary fermentation container with this spoon.  There is also a version of a “stirrer” that you can connect to a drill.   This is useful as it takes the work out of mixing things into the wine in future stages and can help to assure that the carbon dioxide gasses are being dissipated.

Hydrometer – You use the hydrometer to check specific gravity.  This is important in determining the sugar in your juices.  You can also use it to tell you the alcohol content.  Specific gravity readings are temperature sensitive.  I like to have a thermometer in my hydrometer as well.

Graduated Cylinder – This is probably not a requirement but I find it the best container to hold a small sample, float my hydrometer and have it at eye level to obtain the reading.

Thermometer – Temperature is important in fermentation.  Too high or low and the yeast will not do their job.  If your hydrometer doesn’t have one you will want to make sure you get one.

Wine Thief – This is a glass or plastic device that will allow you to collect a small sample of your wine.  You will use these samples to check specific gravity or for tasting.  Basically it is a long tube with a hole in both ends… You slide it into the wine and then put a finger over the hole on the end you are holding… this keeps the wine from coming out of the tube… When you place the end over the container you remove your finger and the wine flows out.

Rubber Tubing and Stop – You will do some siphoning as you move your wine from fermenting container to carboy(s) to bottles.  Good quality rubber tubing is a must.  You can also get a stopping device to place over the tubing that will “pinch” the tubing for you to stop the flow.  If you don’t want to use the “mouth suck” method to create the initial suction you can also get devices that will do this for you.

Carboy Brush – You will need to get the carboy clean.  This is basically a big brush with an angle in it that allows you to clean the neck and walls of the carboy.

Wine Bottle Cleaner – In addition to your carboy you will also need to make sure that your wine bottles are clean.   There is a pressurized system you can use, or you can use the good ol’ brush method.

For the most part I think this is everything… You may want to make sure that you save a few smaller glass containers to hold wine that you will be removing from the carboy in later stages, and I like to use the gallon size milk jugs for cleaning solutions.

Home wine making has really changed very little from when I did it then to now.  The basic equipment is still the same, and the chemistry and process certainly hasn’t changed.  What I do find to be different is the availability and quality of wine making kits.

A wine making kit contains all of the necessary juices, flavorings, chemicals and other additives to turn juices into wine.  The kit certainly takes away any of the relatively minor complexities that you would have found in wine making.  You no longer need to worry about acid content, brix (amount of sugar in juices), and pH.  If you can read and follow simple instructions – Step by Step – you too could be an at home winemaker.

The general process involves:

• 1. Primary fermentation – where the majority of the sugars are turned into alcohol by yeast.
• 2. Secondary fermentation – where the yeast continues to consume the sugars and
• 3. Clarifying – get rid of any residual “cloudiness”.
• 4. Bottling – taking your large batch and putting it into individual bottles for further aging and future drinking and gifting.

Since I am renewing my interest and it is late in the year making fruit difficult to gather I decided I was going to make a few different kits over the course of the winter.  Keep in mind that wines, particularly the reds will need a bit of time to age and may not be ready for consumption for many months after you bottle them. You also want to keep in mind that the fermentation of the batches can take varying amounts of time based on many variables.  Don’t try to rush the process!

Over the next few posts I will take you through my experiences with a couple different wine kits… step by step.  My next post will be on Getting Ready – A Wine Makers Equipment.

I had a co-worker send me an email the other day that was about purchasing American made products.   It was actually one of those emails that made me go… hmmmm….

When purchasing Made in the USA I am one of those that has this preconceived notion that whatever the item is will be more expensive.  After all, our labor force here is expensive, insurance, etc… but you know what?  American made products are NOT always the most expensive. (Can’t help but wonder what the manufacturers are doing with the money they are reportedly saving by manufacturing out of the country?)

Anyway I thought I would share the email with you all.   Read through it, let me know your thoughts and maybe some of your experiences while reading the labels… (I don’t think I will be giving up my Hershey bars.)

Good idea. One light bulb at a time .

Check this out. I can verify this because I was in Lowe’s the other day for some reason and just for the heck of it I was looking at the hose attachments. They were all made in  China . The next day I was in Ace Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there. They were made in USA. Start looking .

In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else – even their job. So, after reading this email, I think this lady is on the right track . Let’s get behind her!

My grandson likes Hershey’s candy . I noticed, though, that it is marked made in  Mexico now. I do not buy it any more . My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico now.  I have switched to Crest. You have to read the labels on everything .

This past weekend I was at Kroger . I needed 60W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets . I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off brand labeled, Everyday Value. I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats , they were the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in Mexico and the Everyday Value brand was made in get ready for this – the USA in a company in Cleveland,  Ohio.

So throw out the myth that you can not find products you use every day that are made right here .

So on to another aisle,  Bounce Dryer Sheets . yep, you guessed it, Bounce cost more money and is made in Canada . The Everyday Value brand was less money and made in the USA. I did laundry yesterday and the dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using for years and at almost half the price.

My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in the USA – the job you save may be your own or your neighbors.

Since our current economic condition here in the USA has us all thinking in terms of Billions I thought it might be interesting to put that term into perspective.  The number is almost an incomprehensible number and while it just seems to roll off of people’s tongues what does it really mean?

A billion seconds ago – It was in 1959.

A billion minutes ago – Jesus was alive.

A billion hours ago – our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

A billion days ago – no one walked on the earth with two feet.

A billion dollars ago – about 8 hours and 20 minutes at the rate our government spends it.

Let’s look at Katrina and New Orleans and their request for 250 Billion Dollars to rebuild…

If you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans that means every man woman and child in the city would get $516,528.

Each of the 188,251 homes would get $1,329,787.

If you are a family of four you would get $2,066,012.

So what about the $700 Billion for the bank bailout?

That is enough money to fund complete medical care for every man woman and child alive in the US for 11 years!

Needless to say at $6.93 I have to take a loan against future payouts in order to be able to do anything.  Our dinner at the local Mexican restaurant was more that 5 times that amount (with tip of course), the movie tickets were $9.25 each and the popcorn and soda pop to go with them cost more than many 3rd world families have to spend in an entire month.

I figure at this rate I am going to need to have between 9 and 10 more paychecks to cover the evening out.  I got a little caught up in the moment of having that money to spend which encouraged me to do just as our government is doing… deficit spending!!!   Fortunate for me personally, I only need 10 more paychecks to cover my little splurge…

Put into perspective… our 700 BILLION dollar stimulus package divided by approximately 350 MILLION Americans is about 2000 dollars for each man woman and child in this country. (Tax payer or not.)  If I gave the government back their $6.93 per paycheck I would need about 289 paychecks to cover my $2000 of their stimulus spending.  (That’s 11 years for me!) An you know what that doesn’t include any interest.  The money doesn’t grow on trees.  It has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is typically going to get an interest payment as well.

I have some thoughts here that might save costs and allow them to be able to maintain the old rates.  Of course you know they will eventually do these things anyway AND STILL take the increase that the law allows (tied to CPI-U – the consumer price index for Urban customers – 3.8% in 2008 – They can also “bank” these increases).

Idea #1 – Eliminate Bulk Mail Rate.  Most consumers throw this stuff away anyway.  By eliminating the bulk rate and making these companies pay for the presorted first class rate you will do two things.   First you will reduce the amount of junk that ends up being delivered.  (An added bonus – they could market this as a “green” solution because it would reduce the amount of garbage hitting the landfills.)  Second, for those that still do want to send the junk they are placed into the same category as all other mail AND get to pay the same rates as the normal postal consumer.

Idea #2 – Eliminate Saturday Mail Delivery.  Why in the world do we need to have mail delivered 6 days a week?  There is no added benefit, no compelling reason.  It must have been some government idea to get people back to work that has never gone away.  Anything you get through the mail is not extremely time sensitive that it couldn’t wait an additional amount of time.  Many business entities are closed on Saturdays so their mail isn’t needed on Saturday anyway.

If you were to do both Ideas 1 and 2 at the same time the carriers would be reducing the amount of crap they have to carry around, and speeding up the time it takes for sorting and delivery.  (Time for some staff reductions.)  With no Saturday you also would reduce the amount of sorting and delivery time. 

I’m really getting tired of the increases.  Maybe people should send more email instead.  I know I am getting most of my statements now via email.  Much of my personal correspondence is also via email…  Ahh…. maybe this is a conspiracy… they need to increase the cost of mail to maintain the bloated bureaucratic structure in the light of reduced volumes due to email.

Regardless… be prepared… Buy your Liberty Bell stamps now… (These are the Forever Stamps that you pay the current rate for and you can use them forever – regardless of the then current rate.)  I’ve got a couple saved away so that when the rates reach 5 or 6 dollars per letter and I just have to send paper that will take a week or more to deliver – I can “sock it to them”!

The AACT (American Association of Community Theatre) holds a biennial festival where community theatre groups participate in state, regional, and ultimately a national competition of one of their productions.  There are some strict rules and guidelines that are followed and you can find the details on the website link above.

Some of the guidelines include:

The production can be no longer that 60 minutes in length.  For “Cuckoo’s Nest” this required that the play be shortened.  An interesting thing in doing this revision is that the lines can not be changed they need to be removed.  This meant that the original “F’enheimer” and “GDs”, as director Yvonne A.K. Johnson referred to them, were reintroduced after being removed from the mainstage production.  The actual performance time turned out to be close to 57 minutes after the script revision.  Timing starts at the first sound cue.

The entire set, props, etc.. must fit into a 10′ square.  For me this was the most intriguing part.  When we entered the theatre there was a “box” on the stage.  It wasn’t really a box, but all of the backdrops, folded into a square. 

The cast has 10 minutes to setup and tear down the entire set.  For this production that 10′ “box” opened up and there was everything from the gurney, table and chairs to the TV and the ward overhead lights.  When they are prepared to begin all of the cast and crew were on the stage and they all had to be touching the box.  Once they were instructed to begin, the stage came to life, and in a matter of about 7 minutes we had a fully operational and tested set ready for the actors.  The teardown went even faster.  I think someone in the audience said it was something like 4 minutes to put the entire set back into the 10′ square.

It was a very enjoyable experience and it was evident that everyone really worked hard and took pride in the accomplishment.

So how did they do?  Of the 11 groups in the competition only 2 were are chosen to compete in the regional competition coming up in Coeur d’Alene.  Spokane was not one of the two… Those distinctions go to the Bremerton Community Theatre for the production of Overtones, and the Driftwood Players of Edmonds for their production of Minnesota Moon. 

The Spokane Civic came away from the festival with the following accolades:

• Stage Manager’s Award for Technical Excellence – Costume Crew
• Outstanding Achievement in Set and Lights

Congratulations on those achievements!!  You can see the complete list of awards on the WSCTA website.

I would encourage you all to get involved with your local community theatre.  You don’t have to be an actor, or even a volunteer.  Your attendance at the productions supports the continued efforts of your theatre groups.   If you happen to be in Spokane I would encourage you to check out the website for the Civic.

There is an article on the U.S. News site that has some interesting tidbits about DST.  I have included a few below.

1.  It is saving, NOT savings (with an s) time.

2.  Heart attacks increase the first week of DST – speculated due to less sleep.

3.  Lethal car crashes are reduced because people are safer drivers during daylight hours.

4.  Kazakhstan abolished DST in 2005 citing health concerns.

5.  Two US States do not observer DST – Arizona and Hawaii

6.  The first American to advocate for DST – Benjamin Franklin

I know that I for one like the extra hour of awake time with daylight.  My wife corrects me when I say that I get an extra hour of daylight… technically there is no more daylight, just an adjustment in my clock so that I can enjoy the daylight that we have.