Bit of the ordinary

What will they think of next?

Green Day on the stage
That is a link to a New York Times article, about making a theatrical stage version of their album American Idiot.

Berkeley Rep is to announce Monday that the new work, also titled “American Idiot,” will have its premiere as the first production of the theater’s 2009-10 season, and run from Sept. 4 through Oct. 11.

The musical is a collaboration between Green Day — the Bay Area rock trio consisting of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool — and Michael Mayer, the Tony Award-winning director of “Spring Awakening.”

Bit of the ordinary, Education & Miseducation

planning my summer

Lately I have begun working on my summer job. That entails working out the classes and locations for the curriculum of a summer theatre program. the students are broken down into groups and I rotate the groups thru the four different teachers, making sure that they get each group the same number of times and checking with space conflicts for where the classes can meet.

It gets a little intense here is the preliminary calendar for this Summer:

Last years calendar is in the background here:

Each different color post-it note is a different class or rehearsal or performance. The ones above the poster board are days off of the faculty, which affect which classes could be taught and rehearsals as well. Or the little pink ones are if there was another event in one of our spaces that we have to set up and then plan rehearsals/ classes around. It is a little like staring at the falling numbers in the Matrix.

Soon I will begin working on designing the posters and the sets. Which is a little more fun.

Bit of the ordinary

When the fools speaks the truth

It is said that Shakespeare uses the character of the fool to say underlying truths that cannot be said. In King Lear, the Fool says things to the King that he doesn’t let anyone else say. That is a simplification of a lot of Shakespearean scholarship. But I am thinking of that a lot when I watch the Daily Show on Hulu. WHy is it that this comedian can ask real questions of people and get past thier talking points, when the ‘hard hitting reporters’ can’t?

Check out his interview with Jim Cramer and somewhere is his interview with Huckabee.

I want more Jon Stewarts on TV and less of the usual punditry and reporters listening and enabling the pundits.

Education & Miseducation

Academic desperation

I just spent the week in Cincinnati at the USITT conference. It covers design and technolgy for the theatre. The whole family came with which was great to see them. I would be able to have dinner with them and sometimes be able to do bedtime as well.

The conference on the whole was fruitful. I did a poster presentation on podcasting for educators, and that was well received. I submitted an idea for a full presentation for next year’s conference, we’ll see if it gets chosen.

You see, academics are expected to share their research in some way. Books and articles are the most respected, and the most competitive. That is followed by presenting at conferences. So that makes presenting at conferences is very desirable.

That makes these sessions highly sought after. Especially for all these assistant professors that need to get tenure and promotion, or can only get their school to pay for the trip if they are presenting.

There were two people at the conference that proposed seven different sessions when there were only ten spots available. They were visibly desperate to get a session and had a shotgun approach to proposing sessions.

We’ll see if my presentation/session gets accepted. If not I have a plan ‘b’, don’t you worry.

Family biz

somebody turned 2

We had a fun day today. Friends came over for brunch, Liam opened presents, Arden and Liam rode around on my back, what more could you want?

All in all a very good day. Made me not want the kids to get any older.

the Blog of Owen Collins