Today my son achieves something that few theatre artists anywhere have: he is world premiering two separately produced plays: Saturday Morning Cartoons up at the Pocket Theater at 10:30. (He co-wrote one of the cartoons with me and my other son. I'm pretty sure this performance is sold out, but there will be shows on the next two Saturdays.)And then later in the day he acts in Scot Augustson's "Open Carry", at Seattle Public Theatre. (For details, go here: Seattle Public Theater Youth Presents OPEN CARRY A New Play by Scot Augustson.)


As someone who has done a wee bit of advocating in the past for locally grown new plays, I'm pretty damned proud of how much my 12-year-old son has already contributed to this vital field (i.e., more than most professional theatre artists do in a life time).

 

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As for me, well, I'm starting to feel Iron Noder challenge slip away from me.  At this point, I would have to node twice a day (which I haven't even done yet) at least three times to catch up. I'm still in the decision making process of whether or not to let go.

On the up side of the month so far, I finished my polish of my memoir, which I am calling The Starting Gate. In a week or so I will send it down to my friend down in the Bay Area and he will, in turn, send it to his literary agent. I think this is my best bet for getting this book published conventionally.  One way or the other, I will get it into print. Even if I have to publish it myself. I don't always do vanity projects, but this one feels right to approach that way.

 

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It's halfway through the day and we've already been to see the Saturday Morning Cartoons for which I and my two sons wrote one of the scripts. It was a blast. Very well directed and performed. All the pieces were strong. I never stopped laughing and neither did most of the kids in the audience. It totally captured the spirit and fun of the old cartoons that used to play on Saturdays on the big three networks. If you live in the Puget Sound area you should totally check them out, especially if you have kids.  More information here.

 

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The play "Open Carry" was good. Maybe not great. But a solid "good" and my boy and all the kids did a strong job. Tomorrow is a day for staring down my writing goals and maybe trying to meet them. And also football. Oh hell, let's face it, it's mostly about football.