Hi everybody, I miss you.

by Esther Emery

Ladies, this blog is not updated. You are no longer a homeless theatre company. You’ve opened and closed Drink Me in residency at the La Jolla Playhouse, and you’re running Dog Act in the new space in Rolando. What a lot you all have going on! But I’m not informed well enough to do the update.

I happen to know, because I am still an author of this blog, that Amy has begun but not finished a post called “Farewell, Esther.” If she’s anything like me, she wanted to say something, maybe because I started this blog, and then I went and moved to New England, and it seemed like somebody ought to say something. But if she’s anything like me, she wasn’t quite sure what to say, because maybe there is so much to say, and getting past the post title sounds like an awful lot of work.

I’m in Boston now, or just outside of Boston. I can’t tell you a whole lot about the Boston theatre scene because I’m not in it. I’m at home with the kids. I’m learning to quilt, and still practicing my juggling. I do ceramics on Saturdays. The fall leaves are AMAZING.

I was waiting to post here again until I had something really relevant to MOXIE or to the issues we’ve talked about on this blog. I would discover a woman-and-child friendly theatre company in the Boston area, or would see a really challenging show, or meet a kick ass female playwright.  But none of that has happened yet, and it’s been a couple of months, so I decided not to wait anymore. I’m proud of all the developments in the MOXIE world, as I hear about them from a distance, and I’m very proud to be a MOXIE emeritus.

I’m doing a blog project for the month of November that I’d like to invite the MOXIE babes and friends to visit or participate in. I’ve decided to go ahead and give over to my hermit impulse — for a finite period of time — so I’m going off the internet for a year. And I’m doing a one-month blog marathon as a transition ritual, and also to explore some ways that I might be able to write about the experience.

Stop by sometime, okay? Anytime in November, I’ll be there. And debate with me, because I miss that.

Go MOXIE!!!

Bye Bye, Butcher of Baraboo

by Esther Emery

Jo Anne and I went to the landfill today. Manual labor? Pretty satisfying.  Leaving the babies at home with Delicia (where they both slept, because it seems they always sleep when somebody else is watching them)?Equally satisfying. Saying goodbye to a set that I loved? Tragic.

The Butcher of Baraboo closed on Sunday.  I am coping by creating a new piece of art (the photo above) out of the death of an old piece of art.

The landfill staff wasn’t so impressed. I got chastised by a friendly fellow in an orange vest, who probably enjoyed the fact that I jumped guiltily and put my camera in the cab when he accused me of letting Jo Anne do all the work.

I did help, I swear.

Here’s Jo nursing a bloody thumb, as a pile of the wallpaper that I spent an entire day getting up without any bubbles approaches unity with a couch and some yard waste.

At least my thumb isn’t bleeding.

Happy closing, everybody! Thanks for your beautiful work on The Butcher of Baraboo!

Name that MOXIE – Jo Anne and Amy

by Esther Emery

Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you… Jo Anne Glover, MOXIE Theatre Managing Director and one of the four founders of the company, who comments on this blog as kidglove and is the guest author of the very next post. 

And, Amy Chini, MOXIE resident scenic designer and wizard of props, who comments and posts on this blog as chinimachinee, although she has very recently been fully occupied wearing two hats for our upcoming The Butcher of Baraboo, handling the props AND scenery design.

The winner’s ribbon this time goes to Missy, who got it on the first round due to an expert assessment of the environment behind the photo subject. Don’t go into forensics, Missy.  We’d miss you.

Thanks for playing!

Name those MOXIE’s: Round Two

by Esther Emery

Same two MOXIEs. Same order. How’s this for a spiritual resemblance?

Final answers! First name and location in the continental United States. If you’re really stumped, read the comments on the last post for clues.

Name These MOXIE’s – Two for One

by Esther Emery

Or name the photos. 

I call the pair of them “Small Women Plotting World Takeover”

In comments, list your caption, and/or your picks for who we’re looking at. They’re not the same person, although I think they kind of look like it. First names are okay. I have another round for when and where.

Have fun!

Cafe Press

by Esther Emery

I didn’t make room in my April budget for an original piece of art. But I did buy a magnet. It made my day to open the mail on my birthday and find this adorable monster, created by Amy Chini and sold via CafePress. Doesn’t  it look nice on our fridge?

Milo doesn’t understand why I keep telling him that the monster was made by Amy, since it doesn’t look like her  at all. And he is understandably frustrated that the magnet is too strong for him to pull off the fridge and ferret away underneath the bookcase. Otherwise, we’re satisfied customers.  

If you want to check out Amy’s store and buy a magnet for yourself, go here.

Or, even better, if you want to open your own online store so I can buy a magnet from you, too, go here.

Kodachrome

by Esther Emery

I’ve been sitting on a power line lately. Remember the lines of energy that the voodoo nurse talked about in Mary Fengar Gail’s play Devil Dog Six? I mean that kind of power line. I’ve had some special access, or perspective, that makes it possible to see connections where I didn’t see them before. Maybe it’s the pregnancy.  Maybe it’s the fact that I’m on a genuine spiritual search. Or maybe I just took the time to let my head clear.

What I do know is that once you open yourself to hearing the truth (and experience the hard knock that probably comes with that), then the truth is exactly what becomes available to you.

At first it felt like luck. A challenging book that I have wanted to read for a long time literally fell off the shelf at the thrift store in Spring Valley, marked $1.95 in red crayon.  I finally read it.

As one non-profit delayed and eventually rejected my offer of volunteerism, another made an invitation. And that second organization turns out to be exactly what I didn’t know that I was looking for.

Synchronicity, right? I’m getting used to it. But this next one still blew my mind.

This evening I showed up fifteen minutes late to a $35 Intro to SLR photography class that I’m taking at Santana Adult School. I thought they were going to show me how to use the buttons on the fancy camera that my husband bought me for Christmas. Instead, I got a powerful wake up call as to the nature of art and the function of the artist.

“The only way we grow as a society,” says the teacher, “is to get more artists.”

Woah. That’s a statement I agree with. But I’m in a trailer at Santana High School. Did I come out here to hear that?

Maybe I did.

“The automatic setting is designed to give you average,” he says.  ”Average is nothing to aspire to.”

Dude. It’s hot in here, and my baby is due in three weeks, and I just want to take cute pictures of my kids.

He explains to us that the automatic settings reflect what the eye sees, with the intention of reproducing the photographer’s physical limitations. “Beauty,” he says, ” lies outside of our range of vision.”  It’s a three hour class, and he doesn’t let up. Have a point of view. Know your message. Practice your craft. Be the artist you are. And don’t bother making excuses.

I’ve been schooled.

As Amy and I do our color work on the final scenic design for The Butcher of Baraboo tomorrow, I may be a little less likely to lift the details directly off of a “Wisconsin kitchen” Flickr search, and a little more likely to own the art.

Have any of you had a teacher or a lesson pop up on you like that? Or been taught something you could have sworn you already knew?

About that MOXIE – No more delay!

by Esther Emery

Ladies and gents, I have a new computer, and the delete key works, and the space bar works, so I’m able to sit at the computer again without reaching for the nearest hammer.  (Whether for my head or the dysfunctional keyboard, I’m not sure.)  So…I’m back.

And today, I’m here to tell you about Dustin Long.

This is Dustin.

He’s our TD. That stands for Technical Director. TD’s are legendary for being grumpy, and I should know, since I’m married to one, but Dustin breaks that particular mold. He’s very, very funny. 

And he collects shoes.  

I’m not making that up. The subject arose during a production meeting for The Sugar Syndrome, and he admits to having a closet full.  Maybe that bit of delicious self-care is the way he avoids the stereotypical grumpies.

When not collecting shoes, Dustin works full time for his family’s cabinet shop, Equity Cabinets. For MOXIE, he is nothing less than an alchemist. He takes a set model and some drawings and a fixed (small) amount of money, and he makes it all into a set.

He might start by making a 3 D computer model like this one.

Then he tells us how much it is going to cost, suggests cuts or adjustments to get the project within budget, and finally builds it. All of it. He hires any crew that he needs (and we can afford) to get the build done on time, and then leads the MOXIE team in assembling it all on site in a few very long, thrilling days just before we open.

And then we all start taking notes.  That means Dustin has to keep working, making small adjustments right up until opening.

Most people who do what TD’s do will tell you that nobody really knows what all they do.  Honestly, I know that’s true.  But I also know that we appreciate it.

Thanks for being a MOXIE, Dustin!

Babies R Us?

by Esther Emery

NPR took on one of our favorite subjects this morning. Here’s the tag:

Is the Workplace the New Babies R Us? Parents with newborns often face a stressful situation when it comes to work. For new mothers in particular, returning to work can mean a wrenching decision to leave a new baby in daycare or with friends or family. A small but growing number of companies are allowing – even encouraging – parents to bring their babies to work.

It’s a nice little spotlight on a big, big issue. Thanks, NPR.

But one small question… Why Babies R Us? Is that cute? Is it clever? 

I’ll be even happier when a major news outlet can address the issues facing the massive ranks of working parents minus the reductionist headline. Or at least without suggesting to the business world that their offices might get turned into color-coded superstore aisles filled with commerce-crazed moms and their toy-crazed toddlers. 

Is that just me?

MOXIE goes to La Jolla

by Esther Emery

MOXIE has just been named the La Jolla Playhouse’s Resident Theatre Company for the 2009-10 season.  Woo!  We’re getting two months of rent-free performance space, and access to the LJP infrastructure for administrative support and publicity. And, in return, they get some MOXIE. Win-Win.

It’s the second year of this program, conceived by LJP artistic director Christopher Ashley, and we’re thrilled.  Here’s more.