Local community theatre in Spokane is alive!  My wife and I have been doing a little volunteer work at the Spokane Civic Theatre this year and recently had an opportunity to watch a dress rehearsal of the competition version of the production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.  So what is a competition version you might ask?  I know I was asking because I had no idea.

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.

It has been snowing since I arrived home from my business trip on Wednesday 12/17.   We have shoveled and blown nearly 25 inches of snow from our sidewalks and our driveway.  I just want it to stop.

What we are hearing on the news is that the record snowfall for a 24 hour period was somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 inches back in 1950.  The National Weather Service on last report that I looked at had us at 19 inches in a 24 hour period.   Absolutely shattering the prior record.  (They’ve been keeping records here in Spokane since the early 1880s.)

Now for the most part I am like the snow.  I was born and raised with it and know how to drive in it and we have the equipment to help use remove it, etc.  What I don’t like about it is the way others deal with it.    Take the City of Spokane for example… they can’t seem to figure out how to keep our city streets clean.  When we lived in Chicago we would get a major storm and within 24 hours things were back to normal.  Chicago I believe at one point was going to impeach a mayor because they couldn’t get the roads cleaned efficiently.  It’s no surprise we are going to get snow… Why does it take so long to get the streets open?   Another example is the amazing impatience that people have with one another… particularly when driving.  Conditions call for a slower speed… remember that as you are wrapped around the light pole and spending the night in the emergency room.

This is two winters in a row now where Spokane has experienced record snowfall.  And preceding this snow we had some incredibly low temperatures to boot.  I’d like some environmentalist or expert on our world’s environment to tell me how this is all a part of global warming?   When even Las Vegas gets snow…Well maybe hell has frozen over and we are going to now get what we have coming?