#goodjobtexasjr began this summer with one show. But it’s since grown into something much more.
Week by week, as we moved forward with the show, we’d see new segments added, and new team members would join us to help expand the show beyond its original studio space, and beyond its original mission statement. By the last show of #rocktober, #youngandfresh wasn’t simply a music show, but a showcase for the community.
It wasn’t long before it would become a showcase for the network…
When Nikki signed on to host a show on #goodjobtexas, I had a feeling there would be much more to #youngandfresh once we really got into it. One of Nikki’s gifts is the ability to look past the present moment of a project and see its future potential.
And there’s a LOT of potential in this one. Continue reading
Since the end of PDP‘s last regular acting classes, we’ve had a lot of people asking when Nikki would be teaching again. And while it may be a cliché to say their interest was overwhelming, we really were overwhelmed to find out how much those classes really meant to people. So we looked for the kind of “limited-engagement events” I’d mentioned in that post.
The first of those events came in the summer, as Nikki led a summer acting camp at The Rose Theatre Company. And parents and kids alike responded really well to Movie Magic. So when the opportunity for another workshop… well, arose, it made great sense to return to the theater. Continue reading
It’s been another something of an arc in this blog (if you hold to the idea I suggested last time of blogs having arcs) that much of the time I spend in the arts is spent meeting and supporting young talent in all fields. Given that last week’s performance at Morgan’s Wonderland included three young actors, the post it inspired could fall into that category.
I’d like to believe that with the proper development and encouragement, young talent is a renewable resource. And last night was another case in point. Continue reading
Even the smallest art show is an ambitious undertaking. An art show with live models might be more so. And an art show with live models impersonating pop-cultural icons? To pull something like that off, you need great people at every level.
With Glamour in Glitter, we had them. Continue reading
I hadn’t heard the news when Nikki first texted me yesterday, and I wasn’t in a position to get online and find out. So when she told me what had happened, I was in shock.
It was through Nikki and Chadd that I was introduced to The Renaissance Guild, and to its founder, Paul Riddle, Jr. They had known him for several years – PrimaDonna‘s earliest work was with TRG, and Nikki (as actor and producer) and Chadd (as director) were both active supporters of the theatre company. So when I joined PDP, I joined their partnership as well. Continue reading
For five years, I’ve been blessed to work with Nikki and Chadd at PDP. And in that time, as Nikki’s unofficial Boswell, I’ve done my best to chronicle the many chapters of her career as a performer, producer, promoter, and teacher.
With that in mind, today’s post will be rather bittersweet, as I’m writing the close to one of those chapters. Continue reading
Many of us, if not most, have at one point or other in our lives shared a fascination with magic and magicians. And many of us, if not most, may outgrow that.
This story is about what happens when you don’t. Continue reading
Over four weeks of rehearsing The Love List, we had a list of our own to work on. And with each run-through, we refined and tweaked it, checking and re-checking each item.
It goes without saying – so of course I’m saying it anyway – that the dress rehearsal is one of the last, and therefore most important, steps in that process. It’s where we take all the pieces we’ve created and collected and put them together to see how they work as a whole. Set: check. Props: check. Costumes: check. Blocking: check. Lines memorized: check. Sound and light: check. MaMaLu Olivo as our stage manager: check. It’s our best chance to see how the show will play before we bring the audience into the theater. Continue reading
As I write this, we’re nine days from opening night for The Love List. And in our third week of rehearsals, the play continues to take shape, each run-through bringing us closer to that one moment we’re all striving for. Continue reading
Lee Hurtado, Writer 