NEWS
updated March 2009

A long time has passed since my last update! Music, theater, performance art, gardening, and life in general just keep moving forward even if there are more economic speedbumps in the road than usual. Artists are scavengers at heart and will find a way to keep producing. Most of the people I work with are used to being very creative without relying on endowment funds so things haven’t really changed all that much for us. Perhaps that’s what will make us stronger in the end - we’ll survive because we’re accustomed to working on a shoestring and don’t have the learning curve of figuring out how to do more with less. That being said, I have joined the ranks of many other artists with a day job that gives some regularity to the grocery bill and allows me to keep the art projects going. And I started just before the major crash, so for once timing was right!

Mad Horse Theatre Company has continued to move and shake over the last 18 months. Despite the global conditions, our audience has continued to grow and the public response has been great. As I near the end of my first year as Executive Director (beyond being the resident sound designer), I’m grateful for the energy of the group and the interest in developing new programs in addition to producing superb work on the main stage.

Our new Dark Night Series is the product of some brainstorming about how to utilize the rented theater space more effectively and give company members more of an opportunity to get their feet wet with directing and producing shorter, new and/or more experimental works. The performances for the series occur on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights when the main stage production is “dark”. Our admission is pay-what-you-can to encourage anyone to attend. We have seen a clear cross over with new audience members coming to the Dark Night then experiencing our main production for the first time, and our long-time supporters are attending the Dark Nights. The Dark Nights are also attracting younger peoplem many of whom may not have had any theater experience at all.

Our final main stage production for 2008-09 will be The History Boys by Alan Bennett - a very exciting production is in rehearsal for an April 23 opening.

For photos and to find out information about our last shows of the season go to www.madhorse.com or the Mad Horse MySpace page .

On the musical front I continue to play with LOOPIN’ and The Maine Squeeze. Loopin’ has taken the winter off while Shamou recovered from foot surgery and then embarked on a lot of traveling. We’re hoping to get things rolling again as the snow begins to melt.

The analog girl with LOOPIN' on You Tube ... digital world indeed!

The Maine Squeeze almost always spends the winter working on new tunes and planning for the summer parade and festival season. Alina has been with us just about a year now and has introduced some great Polish pieces for us. She even has me singing in Polish!

The Cane Gang that premiered last April will be performing on June 6, 2009 in Michael Lane Trautman's Big Time Vaudeville Show. Michael started producing monthly shows last year with great clowns, jugglers, and other performers of physical and musical comedy. (He is the Cane Gang’s resident cane tricks guy).  Joel Eckhaus is working on a new dulcimer cane and Ken Lovelett has been creating more percussion canes.

Those of you that have known me for a long time will remember a group called Sidestep that was active in Connecticut from the mid 70’s to the late 80’s. The basic group was a trio with me, Ken Lovelett and Vincent Pasternak (also members of the Cane Gang). Jim Rivoli was our bass player in the beginning before moving to Vermont (he’s just recently moved to Portland!!), and several other wonderful musicians joined us for various concerts over the years: Pete Levin, Bucky Milam, Ralph Perucci, Jordan Janscz, and many more. There are plans for a Sidestep reunion for the trio in July! Plans are still developing, but it will probably take place in NYC. This event is being produced by an old friend of Vincent’s and is very exciting for us. We’ll revisit some of our original material as well as arranging some new things. Stay tuned for more details.

Several people have asked me lately if I have a myspace and/or Facebook page. Sigh. The answer is no. The idea of one or two new cyber things to maintain makes my head hurt. I know it’s the way of the world, I know it’s a good way to reach people, but I’m the kind of computer user that longs for OS9, Appleworks and ProTools Freeware. I never even scratched the surface of those programs and now they’re in the garbage. Who was the wise cracker that said computers would lighten our load? NOT.

You know how some people have live-in help to keep the house clean and the kids in line? Well, what I really need is a live-in geek. I’m happy to clean my house myself; I don’t really have a desire to keep up with the changes every 30 seconds in software. Someone to maintain my web site, keep up with all the social networking, tell me whose sent me messages, tell me it’s time for new important dates for posting, tell me I need new photos, blah blah blah. I could get behind a resident geek. Room for rent in exchange for geeking?? It could become a new niche, don’t you think???  - especially for us cyber-challenged individuals. Think about it kids. But I’m afraid for the moment you need to reach me the old-fashioned way: email, or wow, even the phone would work (I even still have a rotary phone hooked up for those times of dead batteries and power outages). Snail mail? Would you believe I do have a mailing address, and I even get mail! How special would it be to receive a letter that didn’t have a due date on it? It could be you!

I’m just an analog girl in a digital world.