Cast of "To Kill a Mockingbird"

JEAN LOUISE FINCH...................TRACI BURT
SCOUT.............................................EMILY STANISZEWSKI
JEM...................................................CODY VANN
ATTICUS..........................................DENNIS WELCH
CALPURNIA....................................TBA
MAUDIE ATKINSON.....................ERICA COLE
STEPHANIE CRAWFORD.............JO CASSELL
MRS. DUBOSE.................................BETTY KAY SEIBT
NATHAN RADLEY.........................TRAVIS BARTH
ARTHUR RADLEY (BOO).............TAD HOPP
DILL..................................................JAMES MATTHEWS
HECK TATE.....................................GARY MILLER
JUDGE TAYLOR.............................FRED CASSELL
REVEREND SYKES.........................KELVIN MACK
MAYELLA EWELL..........................SARAH KING
BOB EWELL.....................................DAMON WADYKO
WALTER CUNNINGHAM.............PAUL EDELMAN
MR. GILMER...................................ELI CORDONA
TOM ROBINSON............................LORENZA AUBREY
HELEN ROBINSON........................KRISTEN CARROLL
COUNTY CLERK.............................JOHN RODGERS
ENSEMBLE......................................E. TALMADGE HILL
............................................................KEVIN HENRY *
............................................................PAULA MEARS
............................................................HELEN EXEL
............................................................JANET POOLE

*that's me!

"...Mockingbird" Saga continues, 1st script reading

Well, well, well, I guess it pays to go ahead and participate like a grown up.
I just came back from the first script reading for "To Kill a Mockingbird".
Initially, I was extremely disappointed at not getting cast in one of the major roles.
Perhaps I was a bit full of myself.
I did get assigned to the "Ensemble".
Apparently, there are several miscellaneous anonymous type lines that need people to say them.
Tonight, I was assigned several lines in the lynching scene (including getting kicked in the shin by Scout), and then I double up as Link Deas, Tom Robinson's boss, as I jump up during the trial and give an unsolicited speech vouching for Tom.
This is very exciting for the first time to make the case of a play.

I have lines in a famous play. I will be on the stage in front of the whole town.
I will try to document the experience in "Broken Gargoyles".

This is an entirely new experience for me. I want to have fun with it.

Continuing the Mockingbird Saga...

I found the below email this morning. Apparently, it was sent out pretty late last night. I still don't know what I am going to do. I was offered a place in the "Ensemble", whatever that is. I think it's the extra guys that stand around on stage when they need people.
The rehearsal schedule is pretty intense. It basically is Monday through Friday 7pm to 10 pm for the next four weeks and 7pm to 11pm for the two weeks before the play runs.
That sure is a serious time commitment to just stand around in the play, and it would be difficult to watch someone else play the part that belongs to me.
Right now, the Ensemble part doesn't seem to justify that kind of time away from my family.
Thoughts?

From
Gerald Young
Date
2008/03/30 Sun PM 10:19:31 CDT
To
Henry, Kevin
Subject
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Greetings!
By now, most of you have seen the cast list for To Kill A Mockingbird and know that you are cast in our production.
This is a friendly reminder that we will have our first read through in the Campus Theatre Board Room on MONDAY, MARCH 31 at 7pm.
Any production staff who wish to attend are encouraged and ALL CAST ARE TO ATTEND.
If you haven't already picked up your scripts, they are available 9:30am to 5pm at the box office OR you can get it Monday night.
We will be reading the script and getting acquainted with each other as well as some general production housekeeping.
Congratulations to you all -- this is going to be an incredible production!
I am looking forward to working with each and every one of you!!
Until tomorrow night --
GERALD YOUNG,
Stage Manager
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Denton Community Theatre
– – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Gerald Young

(edit: I deleted all of the other email addresses of all of the other actors and theater personnel for their privacy.)

Auditioning for "To Kill a Mockingbird", Denton Community Theater

Auditions for To Kill A Mockingbird
March 24,25 - 7pm - Campus Theatre

I have waited for this opportunity for nearly a year. I auditioned for this play Monday night. Afterwards, I received no calls or emails letting me know the director's decision. I finally tracked down a cast listing on the website. Low and behold, I was not offered a speaking role in the play. I know that this disappointment does not come close to what Paul Johnson did to my family and me, but I am very disappointed. The director is Patrick Bynane who is a drama instructor at TWU. Right now, I am actually wondering if I will ever audition again. I gave that audition my best shot. I have never been so comfortable as I was Monday reading for this play. So far, I have received no criticism. I have emailed the director. Perhaps he will see fit to answer my questions.

Notre Dame vs The Klan

This is the sort of thing that fascinates me. I was reading Kathleen Parker in the DRC this morning. (I have to make a side note here: as screechingly liberal as the editorial board is, they are still allowing space to the conservative columnists. I will give them credit for that.)
Anyway, Kathleeen writes about a column about a student/employee of IUPUI (if you know that this refers to Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, give yourself a gold star) who was sitting on his break time reading a copy of the book shown at the left. The cover shown here is the cover of the book the Keith John Sampson was reading that day.
Another student saw the cover of the book, and noting the burning crosses and the word "klan" on the cover, the other student complained to the administration that the sight of the book was offensive to him/her.
If you read the column or the aforementioned book, you would know that the book is a nonfiction account of a day in 1924 when the KKK descended upon South Bend, Indiana, to terrorize the Catholics at the Catholic university of Notre Dame. On that day, there was a huge street battle in which the Catholic boys emerged victorious. The battle lasted two days. This apparently is the beginning of the downfall of the KKK.
The complaining student had not read the book and did not know what was contained in its pages. He or she merely complained based on the appearance of the cover.
The university reprimanded Sampson claiming that the cover of the book was equivalent to reading pornography in public.
The univerisity president stated that the mention of the KKK is repugnant to black people. Okay, but what if (as was the case here) the book is ultimately anti-KKK or shows the KKK in a negative light?
Apparently, the university stopped knee-jerking and found out was was actually contained in the pages of the offending book. The university chose to not sanction Sampson at all. There was no reprimand.
Are there so many people so willing to become so victimized by something so small? Why would the administration of a university even give credence to such a complaint?
Do you think a university would give attention to complaint that a middle eastern person was reading a book supporting the 9-11 attack on the US? Would they reprimand a black student for reading "Stupid White Men" in the middle of any campus where people could see that?
If these people are so smart that they can punish people for thoughts, if their mind reading skills are so good, why are they not reading the minds of drug dealers, child abusers, rapists, robbers, burglars, and murderers to punish them before they can make someone a real victim?
It seems to me that we as a society waste alot of time on these pretend victims. One good thing from the old days that we have set aside is that getting your feelings hurt was something you dealt with on your own. It wasn't the job of society as a whole to feel your pain over every little thing that bothers you. It was up to you to deal with the situation appropriately and then move on (i.e.-get over it).
What kind of tyrants are running universities that they can dictate what material is acceptable or not on a college campus. The last time I checked, almost all universities in the United States received federal money in some form or another, and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution was still good law.
I, for one, do not wish to have my freedoms curtailed by bombastic educators who so hate the United States that they attack it constantly.

I didn't even know they had a drummer...

This is Ola Brunkert, and he apparently was the drummer for the Swedish group "Abba" who reigned at the top of the charts in the '70's.
When I think of drummers, I think of John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) or even Ringo Starr. I guess Abba did have a drummer in their music; most modern music has a percussion element and a way to keep the rhythm.
Well, it seems the poor fellow died recently in a home accident. According to People Magazine, he bled to death after getting cut when a window broke in his house.

Not Bad for Four Years of Work...

Heather Mills McCartney

I'm driving in to work this morning and I hear that the Court in London awards Heather (above) 16 million pounds in her divorce from Paul McCartney. That translates to about $33 million in U.S. dollars. That's alot of money. I would really like to know the basis for this. Is this a portion of the money they acquired during the marriage? To me, it would be entirely fair if they acquired 32 million pounds in assets during the four year marriage.

Supposedly, McCartney is worth about 1.6 billion pounds on his own. It doesn't appear this is going to financially devastate him.

I know alot of people will believe that she is getting alot of money for nothing, but we really don't know what the court knew in deciding as it did. I suppose someone somewhere with knowledge of all of the relevent facts figured that this was the fair and just thing to do.

(Extra edit: Apparently, that is in addition to $15 million she had already received while the divorce was pending. So her divorce settlement is close to $50 million.)

Happy Birthday, Ron

My brother in California turned 47 this weekend. I hope you had a great birthday. I tried to call you, but I couldn't get an answer. I will try again.

Admiral Kirk is 77 years old this month

William Shatner is 77 years old on March 22. Happy Birthday, James T. Kirk, from a big fan.

Is it really wrong...

To like "Grease 2" more than "Grease"?
I mean really:
Michelle Pfeiffer vs. Olivia Newton John, or
Maxwell Caulfield vs. John Travolta.
Okay, this is probably stuff you really don't want to know about me, but I hope it's not wrong to like the second "Grease" more than the first. Don't get me wrong, the original is great, but there is just something about Caulfield building a motorcycle from spare parts and then learning to ride it just to impress Michelle Pfeiffer. Good Stuff!

(Edit: Cool fact from Grease 2. Caulfield's character was Michael Carrington. Caulfield would later reprise his place in Carrington history by playing a long lost Carrington who turns up in later seasons of "Dynasty".)

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Y'all.

Monday is St. Patrick's Day. It's the day when everyone is Irish and everyone is friends with everyone else.

St. Patrick lived in the fifth century AD. He is credited with bringing Christianity (Catholicism) to the Irish people who, at the time, were controlled by pagan beliefs, mainly worship of the Druid and Celtic gods. He was born in England, but was taken into slavery in Ireland. He escaped as a teenager and became a monk in France. Later, he returned to Ireland as a missionary. When the first Catholic Diocese was founded in Ireland, St. Patrick was named the first Bishop of Ireland. The shamrock is a well known symbol of St. Patrick's day because St. Patrick used the shamrock to illustrate the Holy Trinity to the Irish. One of his miracles was the banishing of all serpents from the island.

St. Patrick's Day is a day to celebrate the life of a great man who left a huge imprint on the world when he was here.
My favorite movies for St. Patrick's Day are "The Quiet Man", one of my favorite Duke movies, and "The Boondock Saints", my favorite movie of all time. It is the story of two Irish brothers in South Boston who decide to take on the Russian syndicate to protect their neighborhood. If you haven't yet seen it, I highly recommend it.
So, wear your green, have a beer, and think great thoughts to celebrate the life of a great man.
"May you be in Heaven an hour before the Devil knows you're dead." -old Irish toast.

DRC Editorial Board Strikes Again!

The DRC editorial board strikes again. They put in this letter from this crackpot under the guise of free speech, yet they refuse to print letters showing the true nature of their darlings, Cynthia White and Paul Johnson:

"God’s candidate speaks
I’m Speaker Gerald Polley, a candidate for the presidency of the United States at the bequest of God. I may have contacted you before, but God has requested that I contact you again.
Something strange is happening in Texas. For some reason, after the primaries the creatures of darkness have been continuing to attack the forces of light.
Jesus has set up his headquarters at the Alamo, one of Texas’ most sacred places, and is defending Texas. Horrendous spiritual battles are being fought every day!
The creatures of darkness are determined to drive him out, break his power and win control of the people of Texas. That must not happen!
God has asked me to ask the people of Texas to pray for Jesus, to empower him to defeat the creatures of darkness. I have done so.
I ask you to spread the word of this to all the people of Texas.
God asks you to do this. He asks you to encourage the people of Texas to join in the effort to empower God’s Son to destroy this evil.
This must be accomplished!
The people of Texas must be reached. The Alamo must not fall again! The forces of light must prevail!
Speaker Gerald Polley,
Bismarck, N.D."

Hey, DRC, what the @#$%& is going on over there?

Liberal Bias of the DRC Editorial Board

I just wanted to point out the the Denton Wretched-Chronicle would not print my letter pointing out how the voters were being misled in the last election, but they will print this load of mental diarrhea from Bill Trantham:
"Primary postmortem
With the close of primary election season here, a few observations are in order.
First, this is Obama country for Democrats. What energy and excitement his candidacy ignited here. It was amazing.
On the Republican side, in what is probably one of the last gasps of the Isaacks political ma­chine, a former assistant district attorney narrowly won over Com­missioner Cynthia White.
As I forecast when he an­nounced, it was a dirty campaign featuring at least two hit pieces from the Coleman campaign. He faces Phyllis Wolper, a Democrat, in the fall. And, we will probably see more hit pieces about her at that time.
I wondered if Republicans would endorse and reward another candidate who came out against the Isaacks machine point-blank.
Apparently, the Republicans found Steve Burgess’ filing against Judge Isaacks, before she gave up, to be worthy of their votes and support.
The other candidates who were afraid to file before Judge Isaacks gave up failed to garner the support level of Steve Burgess.
Finally, I noticed that Karen Guerra, Democratic candidate for the 16th District Court, got more votes than four Republican candidates for district judge combined.
It is going to be an interesting fall, politically.
William Trantham,
Denton"
OBSERVATIONS:
Do you wonder why local defense attorneys would campaign so hard against the incumbent DA? I would imagine that they get tired of having to work hard to defend their clients against tough and solid prosecution. A sensible voter would support the DA candidate that the defense bar fears the most.
This is just another illustration of the left wing slant of the DRC editorial board.
Do you need more? How about the tendency of the paper to put bad news about the Iraq war on the front page, but good news (i.e. the success of the surge or the fact that American casualties are very low or the fact that we are winning over there) gets buried in the back pages.
I will be more diligent about citing specifics to support my argument in the future.

Regular Sight at My House

I am no expert ornithologist, but I believe this is a Great Blue Heron. This big guy regularly fishes in the storm pond behind my house. Apparently, there are some pretty good sized fish there. Hopefully, I will get a good photo of him catching a fish. The pictures don't really show how amazing he is. He is a huge bird. His wingspan has to be easily over six feet. I enjoy watching him hunt. When he catches a fish, he beats it on the rocks until it is soft enough for him to swallow.

Snow Day

With Spring right around the corner, we get hit with the biggest snow storm I've seen in awhile. Is this Texas or Minnesota? This is really amazing for March 6. It took us about an hour and a half to get from Decatur to Denton. I suspect we won't be going to work tomorrow. The traffic was the worst I have ever seen in or around Denton. I am ready to settle in for a long weekend. Don't worry, I brought some work home.

By the way, daylight savings time begins this weekend! Spring forward.

Hugh Coleman Wins by 59 Votes

Finally, all of the votes are in and Hugh Coleman is New Denton County Commissioner, at least the Republican candidate for the job. It is reported that the Democrats actually have a candidate for a county post this year. We should be able to get Hugh over that hurdle. It should be a refreshing change to get a professional person on the Commissioners Court, especially as the Precinct 1 Commissioner. That is and should be treated as a full time job.

The Denton Record-Chronicle...

...did not print my letter to the editor. I guess it was a little more truth than they wanted. My opinion of that paper is now set in cement.