Well, “Shrew” has come and gone, and I must say it was a smashing success. We pulled a strong audience every night, both in numbers and in their reception to the piece. More importantly, I believe every person involved with the production grew as a person, and became better performers, designers, theater organizers, etc. because of their work on the show, which is the most important factor when working on a project with Mask and Dagger. I know I personally learned about lighting design, what goes into producing a show, the director-designer relationship, effective leadership, and so many more minor things that will help me become a more effective theatre artist. I hope everyone involved takes time to reflect upon how being apart of this production has changed them, and will use this reflection to not only make them better actors/designers/directors/etc, but also better people. Once again, thank you to Samantha Smith for giving me this great opportunity.

Moving on to my next big project (I have a series of small projects I’m attempting to get going), I have set my next big career goal. As of right now, I am twenty three years old. Before I turn twenty four, I am going to self-produce a performance of an original play, at least one hour in length. This gives me approximately 250 days to go from concept to performance, which I believe is plenty of time, if I put my mind to it. After some examination, I have determined the bare minimum things needed for producing a piece of theatre are actors, an idea, a performance space, and an audience.  Hopefully by this time next week I will put together a schedule of hard deadlines for the various milestones on the project. The place I believe is best to start is to put together a small “brain trust” of a few individuals whom I trust dearly for me to bounce ideas off of, and produce a starting script as soon as possible. Expect a weekly update on the progress of the project, as well as information on how you can get involved along the way.

In other Dan Pelletier news, the more I go to Windham Windup robotics team meetings, the more I am in love with this team. Team 3467 is exactly what a FIRST robotics team is supposed to be, is loaded with bright, young individuals who are all going to achieve great things in life, and this team is primed for a successful FRC season.

I’ve got the ball rolling on a few other projects I’m attempting to get involved with, but until things are official, I shan’t say what they are.  I’m currently gearing up for the holiday season, as many of my friends know, I am a “Christmas Enthusiast.” I cannot wait for the first real snow fall, decorations, FOOD, tv and music specials, and all the other things that go along with this time of the year. Really just Halloween through New Years is wonderful in my eyes. Also, I still have a ton of reading I’m attempting to get done, both for intellectual simulation, as well as for pleasure, although I am on the verge of giving up on one piece of text that I thought would be very insightful, but has turned out to be boring and lacking substance. Since I hate ending on a negative note like that, I will also add that I am finally seeing some great progress at the gym. While I am still technically no where near my target weight, I am feeling in better shape, have gained strength and flexibility, and several people have commented on my physique looking slimmer. With any luck, I’ll be back to “game shape” by the time we are ringing in the New Year!

Thanks for reading!