Post #2000

Hard to believe that this is the 2000th post I've made to the Tri-State Theatre blog!

So let's see - about 400 words to a post, so I've written... a heck of a lot of words about community theatre! (OK, 800,000 - give or take a few.)

It was in October of 2006 that I had a phone call from my pal Dave Lavender, wondering if I knew someone who'd be interested in writing a blog about community theatre in Huntington. I said, "You mean besides me?"

I had just finished a years-long stint writing video game reviews with my sons for the Herald-Dispatch. We wrapped that effort when my youngest son left for college, so it was a natural step to switch over to writing about one of my other main hobbies - community theatre.

Sons Justin and Evan were the ones who got me involved with community theatre - they tried out for local shows and took part in dozens (and dozens) of productions, and I trailed along, helping out where I could.

I ran the sound board for shows, helped build sets, served on theatre boards, produced and ultimately directed nine community theatre productions (a tenth is on the drawing board).

Even though my kids are no longer directly involved in community theatre, I'm still happy to champion it. Children's theatre is my main focus, of course, because I've seen what a positive influence it can be on the lives of kids who take part - they gain confidence, learn teamwork, make lifelong friendships and have fun all at the same time. They learn skills that will be useful no matter what career they eventually pursue - public speaking, memorization and the ability to work with others, for example.

But community theatre for grownups is the same - it's a wonderful, collaborative effort that combines art, music, dance, performance and tells important stories. And adults get the same benefits out of it as young performers.

It's difficult for theatre groups to promote their efforts - most have only a limited advertising budget (if that), and it's been my hope that this blog would help "get the word out" about upcoming productions, auditions and other theatre-related news.

(As I write this, I realize that I dropped the ball this week - we usually run a fun little "guess the Oscar winners" contest, but between family and work, I didn't get around to it. Or maybe I'm boycotting because they overlooked Albert Brooks for Best Supporting Actor. Yeah, that's it.)

At any rate, it's been a lot of fun working on this blog over the five-and-a-half years (!) it's been in existence. Thanks to my editor Andrea for all her support and patience, to all my pals at the Herald-Dispatch (especially Dave and Robyn), to my lovely wife and kids, and most of all, to you, the readers who have made this one of the most-read blogs on the Herald-Dispatch site!

It's a great time for community theatre in our area, and we'll try to keep you up-to-date here. Of course, that means we're depending on you to send in news, notes and photos to share with the rest of the community (as always, send such things to TheMinskers@aol.com).

This is your site to get the word out about theatre opportunities in our area - it's time to start on the next thousand posts!