UMF premiered a new musical this weekend called Route 66. Faculty were invited to be "Red Carpet Judges" and when I wrote and told them that I had season tickets to Musical Theatre Southwest, I was immediately sent a personalized invitation. (Okay, I think any faculty that wrote in were sent personalized invitations but that's beside the point.) And the invitation was good for 2 tickets so I took MRM.
There was a problem with seating and it was 40 minutes before we were seated and the play was over 45 minutes late starting. We were in folding chairs behind a funny banister, but it was worth it. We ran into Alison who is also a new faculty (though she came in the fall). I had met her before but didn't remember it. Fortunately, she did. When the long waiting line twisted around like the lines at Six Flags, we ended up next to her and she struck up the conversation. She's a blast! So she double checked with everyone who was behind us and in front of her and no one had a problem with her "cutting into line" and she joined us. The three of us sat together (she was a Red Carpet Judge as well).
My favorite part was that the character that all 3 of us thought was the best character and had the best actor portraying that character was being played by one of my students!! I didn't even know he was in it so it was a big surprise to look out there and say, "You know, that character looks a little like Tim in my EDU 101 class. WAIT! It IS Tim in my EDU 101 class!" His onstage character was the total opposite of the Tim that participates in my class so I know he really is a great actor.
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Here's more info on the play (and the fact that UMF premiered the play) from my favorite newspaper:
New musical 'Route 66' to premiere at UMF
By BETTY JESPERSEN
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Monday, March 05, 2007
FARMINGTON -- University of Maine at Farmington theater students will have the chance to stage the premiere performance of a new musical this week and in the process, learn about the creative process with its seasoned playwright and composer.
Theatre UMF will present "Route 66," a love story put to music that unfolds on the well-known highway that stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles. Performance dates are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at UMF's Alumni Theater.
"Premieres are always an event. Audiences enjoy being in on something new and it makes the whole thing a lot more fun for everyone," said the musical's co-author, William Squier, in an interview from his Connecticut home.
Squire and lyricist Jerold Goldstein will be in Farmington this week to watch the rehearsals, work with the cast and to sit in the audience for the debut of their latest work.
Directed by UMF's Andrea Southard, with musical direction by Patricia Hayden and choreography by Lauryn Thomas, "Route 66" tells the story of journalist Liz Mitchell, who is hired by a chic magazine to write an article for a photo essay about this historic American highway.
Frustrated with her stalled writing career, she jumps at the chance, even though it means spending a week on the road with a complete stranger -- Arizona photographer Andrew "Drew" Garrett.
"It is a story that celebrates rural America and is one that people in Maine can relate to," Southard said. "The highway is a metaphor for a journey of self-discovery. It's about finding yourself and accepting that what you originally may have thought might indeed turn out to be something quite different. It's about finding a highway home."
"It is very exciting, especially for the students," said Hayden. "It is a great experience to work with professional composers and lyricists but it is also a bit scary that we will be the first ones to interpret what the writers envisioned."
Squier and Goldstein together and separately have written dozens of musicals that have been performed around the country and off-Broadway. The composer is Fred Stark, a top New York recording studio singer. Opening night will represent a culmination of a six-month collaboration between Southard, Hayden and the producers.
"When I first heard about this musical at a workshop last summer, I just knew UMF had to launch it," Southard said. "After I approached the producers, we successfully worked together -- they even wrote a new song for the show."
Squier said there is a growing trend on college campuses to stage new works.
"Universities have discovered that theater departments are very popular and are revenue producers for the college," he said. "For them to be competitive with other programs, they have to come up with interesting and different things to offer students.
"For us, we like academic settings for these productions because they have a decent budget and you can continue working and developing it while it is being produced," he said. "And it gives students a chance to work on something that is still changing."
Goldstein and Squier will present a talk about the creation and theatrical debut of "Route 66" at 11:30 a.m. Thursday in UMF's Thomas Auditorium, located in Preble and Ricker Halls.
Tickets are free for UMF students with a student ID, $8 for adults, $6 for other students, and $4.50 for senior citizens and children under 13. Tickets can be reserved by calling the Theatre UMF box office at 778-7465.
Betty Jespersen -- 778-6991
bjespersen@centralmaine.com
Monday, March 12, 2007
March 12, 2007: The Purest Form of Democracy
I went to my first Town Meeting tonight. It was great. There's a whole vocabulary and culture involved in them. I've been reading newspaper articles about the moderator and how s/he is selected and how s/he can run the meeting (by Robert's Rules of Order or by a set of guidelines developed by the state). There's a good website by the Maine Municipal Association the answers some questions about them.
http://www.memun.org/Public/local_govt/town_meeting.htm
I sat behind an older couple (most people there were probably in their 60's or older with a good representation of folks in their 40's and a crowd of volunteer fire fighters in their 20's and 30's) who knew what was going on. I had a chance to chat with Nancy afterwards. She was delightful and very helpful. She had a wonderful Maine accent . . . the gentle kind, not the harsh one.
There were only two items on the 46 item warrant that really got the crowd riled up in big discussion. There were a few that warranted explanation and some discussion. There were 2 people who proposed alternative amounts of money on some items in an effort to keep taxes down. Most items passed without any discussion. It lasted 3 hours (well, 2 hours and 55 minutes to be exact) which is apparently pretty short for a town meeting.
My favorite part was when there was a whole bunch of beeping, almost siren-like sounds in the balcony (right next to me) and immediately about 12 men stood up. It was all the volunteer fire department folks' beepers/pagers/radios going off. Apparently, there was a traffic accident with at least one injury. They all exited quickly, the moderator wished them godspeed and we continued on.
There was a moment of silence in the opening moments, before the Pledge of Allegiance, for a woman who had passed away a few weeks earlier. She was VERY active in Farmington politics and policies. There were many articles in the paper about her when she passed away. One of the discussion items was about a dam that needed repair on a local pond and one person suggested that at a future town meeting a proposal be made to rename that pond in honor of that woman. Lots of people seemed to like that idea and the Selectmen chimed in that studying appropriate ways to honor that woman were on their to-do list (well, that wasn't their vocabulary for it, but that was the idea).
One item of interest was that a local agency called Work Force Inc. had requested $1,000 and the budget committee and the Select Board had both recommended that that group be given $0. The citizens were really rallying that the Town should show support for this fine organization that was doing great things and was very helpful to the community. Then it was explained that the group had been granted tax exempt status on their property and that was about a $10,000 in-kind donation to the group. The item passed at $0.
The moderator was most impressive in that he knew almost everyone present by name. He introduced every one on the Select Board and the Budget Committee by name and called on most everyone who had a question or comment by name when he gave them the floor. He had great poise and used a little bit of humor when necessary. He knew exactly when to explain stuff or ask for clarification without bringing any personal bias to any of the issues.
Except for the fact that I couldn't count myself among one of the younger people who was taking an interest in their government (how did I get to be so old??), I was really glad that I went. It really was what our civics books taught us . . . that the New England Town Meeting is the purest form of democracy. Nobody was there to represent anybody else except themselves and their one vote.
http://www.memun.org/Public/local_govt/town_meeting.htm
I sat behind an older couple (most people there were probably in their 60's or older with a good representation of folks in their 40's and a crowd of volunteer fire fighters in their 20's and 30's) who knew what was going on. I had a chance to chat with Nancy afterwards. She was delightful and very helpful. She had a wonderful Maine accent . . . the gentle kind, not the harsh one.
There were only two items on the 46 item warrant that really got the crowd riled up in big discussion. There were a few that warranted explanation and some discussion. There were 2 people who proposed alternative amounts of money on some items in an effort to keep taxes down. Most items passed without any discussion. It lasted 3 hours (well, 2 hours and 55 minutes to be exact) which is apparently pretty short for a town meeting.
My favorite part was when there was a whole bunch of beeping, almost siren-like sounds in the balcony (right next to me) and immediately about 12 men stood up. It was all the volunteer fire department folks' beepers/pagers/radios going off. Apparently, there was a traffic accident with at least one injury. They all exited quickly, the moderator wished them godspeed and we continued on.
There was a moment of silence in the opening moments, before the Pledge of Allegiance, for a woman who had passed away a few weeks earlier. She was VERY active in Farmington politics and policies. There were many articles in the paper about her when she passed away. One of the discussion items was about a dam that needed repair on a local pond and one person suggested that at a future town meeting a proposal be made to rename that pond in honor of that woman. Lots of people seemed to like that idea and the Selectmen chimed in that studying appropriate ways to honor that woman were on their to-do list (well, that wasn't their vocabulary for it, but that was the idea).
One item of interest was that a local agency called Work Force Inc. had requested $1,000 and the budget committee and the Select Board had both recommended that that group be given $0. The citizens were really rallying that the Town should show support for this fine organization that was doing great things and was very helpful to the community. Then it was explained that the group had been granted tax exempt status on their property and that was about a $10,000 in-kind donation to the group. The item passed at $0.
The moderator was most impressive in that he knew almost everyone present by name. He introduced every one on the Select Board and the Budget Committee by name and called on most everyone who had a question or comment by name when he gave them the floor. He had great poise and used a little bit of humor when necessary. He knew exactly when to explain stuff or ask for clarification without bringing any personal bias to any of the issues.
Except for the fact that I couldn't count myself among one of the younger people who was taking an interest in their government (how did I get to be so old??), I was really glad that I went. It really was what our civics books taught us . . . that the New England Town Meeting is the purest form of democracy. Nobody was there to represent anybody else except themselves and their one vote.
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