2016 was the year of white-washing, yellow-facing, and an all-around ordeal for Asian American representation. Asian-Americans reacted in different ways. So people created hashtags, some people created podcasts, and some people made a brilliant variety show.

No one else was going to clean up this mess. The actors were not going to fix the uneven lights anymore than the lighting designer and electricians were going to fix the actors’ stumbles. The director and set/props designer were never going to agree 100% on the look of the play. The playwright was not going to stop hounding the sound designer about the clarity of the lines and volume of the music and the sound designer was never going to talk to anybody, which meant that Tina had to squeeze the information she needed out of him like the juice from shreds of potato that were destined to become a latke.

Because Tina was the Stage Manager; all messes were her messes to clean up.

Indisputably, the most-heard song at auditions for about a decade and a half has been "Gimme Gimme", by Dick Scanlan and Jeanine Tesori from the Broadway hit, Thoroughly Modern Millie. There are reasons why it’s so popular. And there’s a ton of reasons why nobody – and I mean nobody – should be auditioning with this song. I’ll go into those in a moment. But, since nothing I say is going to stop the steady parade of role-seekers essaying this epic, I thought I’d talk about how it could be done better.

With the rehash after rehash of the Disney Corporation, and all the other rebrandings and crazy adaptations happening in a collage of grotesque parodistical Hollywood writing rooms. I have but one question for the beloved industry: what happened to all the writers?

Quite often, I hear people tell young, aspiring actors, directors and playwrights in theatre – and it’s something that I’ve heard myself a few times, in the past – that people need to have a backup plan. In reality, what many of these people are trying to say to them is this: As they are dreaming about their future in the arts, they ought to be thinking more “realistically” about their future careers, at the same time. This is a sentiment I’ve seen echoed on many occasions, and it’s a sentiment which, based on my own life experience and those I’ve observed, I find to be something that all people who are serious about pursuing their dreams in the arts should ignore at all costs.

I was recently on my way home, going down the side of the street I normally take to get to the train. On my way there, I was met by a slightly unexpected blockade.

Earlier that morning, I did catch a glimpse of the red carpet. By the time I had returned to the same spot that afternoon, the festivities had begun. Earlier than I expected, of course. Curious, I waited to see what was going on.

Recently, Chicago Sun-Times theatre critic Hedy Weiss' out-of-bounds commentary within her theatre reviews has finally caught up with her. Her racist comments about the subject matter in the play Pass Over,  was certainly an unacceptable place for a theatre critic to go. 

When you combine this latest issues with her past ones such as anti-Semitism and body shaming, I'll be the first to say that Ms. Weiss has no business working for a major newspaper, let alone in a city as diverse as Chicago. 

The first national tour is Fun Home is getting tremendous reviews. However, one major costume change seems to be upsetting more than a few audience members. One the blog, Sinister woman, one audience member is calling out the costume change as an example of how they are "de-butching" the role of Alison. 

The link appeared in my feed, advertising an opening for a full-time, tenure-track teaching position in Design and Production. The school was Wittenberg University, located in Springfield, OH, about an hour drive from my home in Columbus. I’m embarrassed to say that I was not familiar with Wittenberg, but I visited their website to see if this was a job worth pursuing. I wasn’t optimistic, having seen so many postings over the years that didn’t quite match up to my needs or qualifications.

In the year 1972, for the first time in my life I found myself immersed in theater, both as an acting student and two as an actor in the Traveling Theater of Rockland county.  Admittedly I was a shy boy of 15 years old and had never had an experience where out of  necessity to survive the traveling group, I was literally shaken out of my shell.  I remember thinking about the joy I felt when the audiences laughed or applauded, as well as the young ladies who were enamored by who they perceived me to be. Pretty powerful stuff for a 15 year old.