After months of planning, rehearsing, designing, building, and millions of other tasks, Mask and Dagger’s production of “The Taming of the Shrew” is finally ready to open! Tonight we have our final dress rehearsal, and while there are still a few kinks to work out tonight, I am certain we will have a fantastic opening on Thursday, and a great show week. The thing that makes a Mask and Dagger production more challenging than some is the fact that we have a very abbreviated tech week. We load in the set Saturday and Sunday (the best we can anyways, usually we have to come in Monday and Tuesday mornings as well) and then we get three tech/dress rehearsals before we open. It can be a bit nerve racking at times, especially with so many people in positions they may not have held before, but somehow, through the magic of theatre, it always comes together in the end. Hopefully audiences will love this show as much as we all do, and I am sure everyone is as proud of all the work we’ve put in as I am.

Check out the event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/355789357890855/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

In other Dan Pelletier news, I will now be utilizing my new YouTube channel (danpelletiertheatre) to give the world a taste of all my different talents. The first video I have uploaded is my final performance for our Acting III class last May, which was an original “New Clown” piece. I should start uploading new material regularly to YouTube starting in 2014, but be on the look out in the coming weeks for a few surprises.

You can check out the clowning video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPr2Nfmr3bA

I have attended my second Windham Windup robotics meeting, and my Chairman’s Award team is now hard at work on constructing our strategy. I love the culture of excellence that the other mentors on the team have created, and the students on the team are enthusiastic about being on the team, learning, and the overalll FIRST experience. Over the next few weeks, I will be developing a series of mini-projects to help prepare my team for their Chairman’s Award presentation, as well as teaching them the finer aspects of creating and developing any sort of collaborative project.

Over the weekend, I was able to take in two different performances: Seacoast Repertory Theatre’s The Odd Couple and the University of New Hampshire Department of Theatre and Dance’s Anything Goes. My dear friend Gabby Archambault was delightful in “The Odd Couple” as Cecily Pigeon, and it was an enjoyable night of comedy. I also had a good time at Anything Goes, despite the less-than-stellar writing/plot that plagues many Golden Age musicals. The tap choreography was fantastic and the lead performers all had their moments to showcase their talent, which made for a relaxing night at the Johnson Theater. After the show, it was great to catch up with people in the show, as well as other alumni that were also in the audience. With everything in life lately moving so quickly, being able to hang out with friends, and carry on conversations as if we still see each other every day is very refreshing.

Well, with all that said, I’d once again like to plug “The Taming of The Shrew” which opens tomorrow night, and runs through Sunday in the Stratford room of the Memorial Union Building (MUB) at the University of New Hampshire. The hours upon hours of hard work were very well spent, and I doubt anyone that sees this production will walk away disappointed. Subscribe to my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/DanPelletierTheatre and be on the look out for my next big project!