Secrets

Secrets are those things we keep hidden from other people because we are afraid of what those people might think about us if they knew..........

I found a blog that apparently has been around for a year or more and is the most read blog with Blogspot. It is called PostSecret. From what I can tell, the person that began the blog started this project by asking people to anonymously mail a homemade postcard to him with their secret written on it. He has received so many (which he posted to the blog) that now he has published his 4th book with their postcards and secrets. The secrets are a poignant commentary on people's everyday lives.

I watched a YouTube about the project and it was very intriguing to me. All people have secrets, or at least I believe most people do. I do. There are usually a safe few with whom we trust our secrets, but still something inside of us wishes everyone, not just our confidant, knew the real truth about who we are.

Here is a little secret about me. There was a time in my not so distant past that I wished I was Catholic so I could go to confession. It seemed like a good way to finally tell an unbiased person, who didn't know me, about all the sins I'd committed. The priest would absolve them, making them nonexistent and the burden of my past would be lifted.

In the church where I attend, anyone can confess sins by walking down front after the message of the preacher, while a song is sung. Then, one of the preachers or elders sits down with that person to hear their confession. Next, they announce to all who have assembled for that service, what was shared and a prayer is led on their behalf. The glitch for me comes with confessing to everyone in the sanctuary and not just one person who is sworn by God to secrecy. So, the Catholic confession seemed to me less open to ridicule by all who were present at that service.

Frank Warren is the author of the book "A Lifetime of Secrets", recently released on October 9, 2007. My plan is to buy the book and read it cover to cover. In some weird way, it makes me feel better about myself to know there are other people that have secrets like mine. Who knows, maybe one day I'll send Frank an anonymous postcard too, or perhaps visit a Catholic confessional.

"Now make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers, and do his will." Ezra 10.11

Theater 101

Having survived the first week and slim crowds on opening weekend, The Good Doctor is doing quite well. Kim had to replace two actors the week the play opened with one of them starting right off on opening night and the other taking over his new role just last night on the first performance of our second weekend. Surprisingly, and with much relief, our replacement actors both preformed as if they had been rehearsing for a month instead of the one and two weeks they actually had. I was very proud of these two talented young people for coming in at the last minute and working hard to rescue our show.

Of course, for me, Ryan’s performance is wonderful, and like his grandfather said, it’s just too bad that he can’t make a living at acting. He probably could if he didn’t care so deeply for paying his bills. Ryan plays the part of the writer and narrator of the nine vignette type stories. His character is supposedly the playwright, Neil Simon or perhaps Russian storywriter, Anton Chekhov, the inspiration for Simon’s play. The writer is supposed to be writing the short stories he and the rest of the troupe is acting out throughout the evening. It is a most entertaining performance by Ryan and the rest of the cast.

This play has taught me a lot about putting a show together under different circumstances from which we were previously accustomed. Our beloved Little Theater was comfortable from the standpoint of having a moderate collection of props and costumes at our ready disposal. That is not to say that we didn’t have to construct or search for an appropriate prop or call on a seamstress to sew up a dress or suit every now and then. Though for the most part, our theater attic housed a treasure of stuff to browse through as if visiting a flea market. I missed the convenience of simply climbing the pull-down staircase to venture into the emporium likeness of our theater’s attic.

A lot of back and forth between the church-turned theater, our garage and the old theater set shop took place during the construction of our sets. Being a bit displaced, Kim and other cast members, cut and hammered wood for flats and platforms in our garage. We painted the completed products inside of the church fellowship hall working hard to keep paint off of the floors. I brought furniture pieces home to apply painted stencils and then went back to the theater set shop where I sweated in our Texas heat to apply stencils to our flats that were awaiting transport to the church. It is a relatively simple set, but nice.

The biggest challenge of all for working on this play was the sharing of the building with a religious group that was also renting the space. They were in the building first and we have tried to accommodate and respect their scheduled activities in the building by striking our set before each Wednesday and Sunday. This weekend is particularly difficult because we have a matinee on Sunday afternoon. This means that we not only strike after the performance Saturday night, we then have to return as soon as the church group has completed their Sunday morning services, to reset our stage for the matinee. Even though our set is not too difficult to put up and take down, it does take time and hands of several helpers to get the job done.

At the end of our run in another week, I just hope we won’t be forgotten. The Good Doctor has been a good play. It wasn’t a big musical and not near as many people have come to support us as did Titanic that took place right after the crash, but I think the ones that see it, will be glad they saw the first show of this 2007-2008 BLT season.

Just Hanging Out

Pink flamingos at the Fort Worth Zoo. They look so carefree.

For a retired person, I sure have been busy. The Good Doctor, a play by Neil Simon and directed by Kim, opened this past weekend. (Which, BTW, you should see if you are near Baytown. Ryan is such a good actor!)

Everyday last week I was running errands for the play, finishing sets and getting things completed for opening night. Kim and I had the cast and crew to our house for an opening night party that went on way into the morning with a small number of us sitting around our patio table talking about the play. I enjoy conversations after a play I've seen or worked on. Discussing the play, the performances of the actors and hearing the interesting viewpoints from others can be a lot of fun.

So, with the play underway, my days are not as busy. This morning I've been online writing and reading email, on the web reading blogs and taking it very slow and easy. I've made a couple of lunch dates this week and hope to do some volunteer work for a friend at her school library and perhaps tomorrow at our church.

A friend that has already retired once told me that when I retired I would have not trouble staying busy. She was right and I like this kind of busy. It's not near as stressful to me as teaching school always was.

Well, I've got to get up and get moving this morning. Don't want to be late for my lunch date.