3 Responses to Insanity: Which Are You?

What do you do when the world explodes? 

Do you hunker down and hope the storm passes?

Do you strap on your survival gear and explore the changes?

Do you hide behind your window and ignore the pretty, pretty disasters?

Me? I disappear and take up a new hobby. 😆 Apparently. With cheese. 

I don't know if anyone even comes here anymore because I've been so stinkin’ absent. So...

Things I've been up to:

• Teaching. Like literally, in a school setting. (Creating curriculum from scratch.) I taught several writing classes, a music writing class, geography, even preschool. *gasp* (Not full time. Nope. Too busy teaching my own kids the rest of the week.)

• Producing Musicals (and a play). That's right. 4 under my belt, two of which I cast and directed (and designed lights/projection, and so, so much more!). Tuck a talent show in there too (including all production aspects—finding a venue, tech design, all the way down to rehearsals with the talent) and we tally 5 separate shows. In two years.

  

• Running writing contests and playing editor for a couple anthologies.

• Had a son get married.

• Sent a daughter to the other side of the world serving a church mission.

• Graduated a third child.

• Reestablished a Drama Program: from fundraising to tracking down venues to building teams to casting... I've done it all AND wrote the manual for my successors. (Seriously though, 45 pages of best practices.)

• Revised and workshopped MY musical. (Two years and counting, baby!) (“My" is a loose term referring to the Collier team, hubby and myself.)

• Held 2 low-key readings of my musical. (I say low-key, but that included creating rehearsal video for ALL music parts for ALL characters for a TWO HOUR SHOW. 1 to 12 vocal parts per song – let that sink in — and holding rehearsals/coaching sessions for performers. Whew!)

• Mixed 2 hours worth of orchestrations for a live performance. 😶

• Begun casting for a professional staged reading for IMMORTAL THE MUSICAL.

Those are just some of the highlights. 

What have you been up to?

Shameless plug: We’re looking for talent local to the Orlando area (singers/actors/sight readers). Know of someone? Send them my way!

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Are you hunkering down? Taking the world by storm? Kicking the trash out of your goals? Hanging on by your nails?

Decisions: dream or die?

I've made the choice a hundred times. The first time resulted in working for a music/video production company. The second time meant learning how to be a studio singer. The third time meant overcoming my fear of intricate computer programs. The fourth time required moving to New York City...

So why is it so hard to make that decision, yet again? Maybe because this time I know it's serious, that other people will be involved, that I'm going to have to fight for my artistic vision or worry about industry scavengers trying to embed their own seal...

If you're new to my blog, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. Well, that pretty link on the side there, Immortal the Musical, that's my baby and it finally has a producer.

After a brief hiatus we are about to go into discussions--the scary kind: the kind where we look at that ginormous endeavor (the one we've spent the last 8 years of our lives building,) and figure out how to chop the pie.

Who will be doing what? Who will be paid what? Who will retain the rights for this or that?

*gulp*

When you write a book no one quibbles over lyric royalties vs libretto rights. Granted, these are my shaking knees speaking. I have no idea how this will play out. I only know this is the beginning, the real beginning. There will be no going back. No second guesses. Past the point of no return.

Oh boy. I think I need some muenster to settle my nerves.

Okay professional nail biters, how do you deal with moments like this?

We've got a PRODUCER!!!

Immortal the Musical officially has representation! 

Let me introduce Fernando Varela, the newest addition to our team, our producer. He's not only a kick-trash get-it-done guy, but an amazing performer as well. He knows both ends of the business, and we have the same taste in music, which makes him the perfect match for the musical. Most importantly, he believes in it as much as we do.  

So what does that mean for the show?

First, let's define "producer". 

Producer to Musical=Agent to Writer

No, this doesn't mean we're going to magically be on Broadway next week, just as landing an agent doesn't automatically equal publication. Now the real work begins. A producer suggests revisions, attracts other industry professionals who are needed, lines up the right talent and rounds up money for production. Finding a producer is the first step.

How did we meet Fernando?

We've been in negotiations with Phat Planet Studios on a new concept CD, and the manager, Ed, likes our show. He's been around a long time. He's seen all kinds of projects, and he had nothing but encouragement and good to say about ours. Good guy, that Ed. On their first meeting, he suggested to my husband that we get in contact with Fernando--because he's a phenomenal tenor. He also sent Fernando to our website. 

We took Ed's suggestion and attended one of Fernando's concerts, and he blew our socks off. 

Ed set up the meeting, and we approached with trepidation. From moment one Fernando pitched himself to us as a producer. Come to find out he produced the concert we attended, and he currently produces shows for Mascioli Entertainment Corporation. He knows his stuff.   

So now what? We have a number of directions would could go from here: the new concept CD, fundraisers, concerts, a musical based reality TV show... All I know is, great things are about to happen.