Rising Stars on Monday and Starlight reopens

I will be judging the final monologue auditions for Rising Stars on Monday. While this may not be a big deal to most people in the world it holds a special significance to me. Rising Stars is a community theater group for 7th-11th graders in my hometown of Bloomfield Hills, MI. The group meets twice a week and puts on 5 shows a year, one of them a touring children's show, one shakespeare, one musical, one summer show (usually an action one like Robin Hood or Three Musketeers), and the 5th one is whatever Tom wants to do, usually a 3 hour show that is far beyond an 8th graders natural capability. It is, still, one of the most crazy theater experiences ever because you don't have that much time to learn an entire show, which he never cuts, and then you have to get up there and do it. You also always have to audition at the top of every show, which can be terrifying.

On top of all of that there are also point systems for being good in class, rewards, top monologue places, mentors, and an end of the year banquet where awards are given out. I never got any awards, top monologue yes but awards, no. I was in Rising Stars for 2 and a half years until High School and the other theater Tom runs (The Startlight) took over my entire life. In my time with Rising Stars I was in such shows as: Alice in Wonderland (The Duchess), Oliver! (Nancy), Robin Hood (Marian), Frog and Toads Great Adventure (The Bargewoman...Tom wont let me live that one down), TItania in Midsummer, the lead girl in Groovy (a musical tribute to the 70;s where I demanded my first stage kiss), The Skin of Our Teeth (gypsy, which i would learn later is the symbol for the devil), and a bunch of highly inappropriate parts in a show that is all dead people and its all monologues I cant remember the name right now. I also met the people who I am closest with today, most of whom have moved to NYC, and learned more lessons about directing and running a theater than any class could teach me.

So why is this important? Well, during directors lab chicago I got a lot of questions about where I learned to direct, and I replied from my experiences, all of which started with Rising Stars. So, I wanted to take this opportunity, since it was on my mind when Tom asked me to come by and judge, to thank Tom Logan for his generous support of my career for all of those years. He always pushed me to do better, and was always proud. Because of Rising Stars and Starlight I can put up any show in 2 weeks.

Now there have been several people who have helped shape me as an artist but with the great news that Starlight, which closed last August, has found a new space and is reopening and Tom asking me to come in for judging on Monday I found it fitting to thank Tom today. Good luck to Rising Stars and I will see you tomorrow night!

Last day in Pittsburgh with Andy!