Comments on Ann Pino
Fiction Writer
: Book Review: Theater Geek

Come on, Susan. You might not have spent as much ...

2010-07-14T11:56:20.783-05:00

Come on, Susan. You might not have spent as much time on stage, but you were actually a professional in the biz.

I don't think it'll mess with my "crazy with longing" issues. I should get a copy.

Okay, I can't compete with this conversation y...

2010-07-12T20:53:27.996-05:00

Okay, I can't compete with this conversation you and Alice are having, but ... you're right. I MUST read this, even though my own theater experience is more limited than my straight-on music background.

Unless it makes me crazy with longing and jealousy. Then I can't read it at all.

I didn't do much in oils, but I did go on a pa...

2010-07-11T13:57:04.450-05:00

I didn't do much in oils, but I did go on a painting kick and did acrylics for a while. Self-taught. What I know of drawing I got from a couple of how-to books.

We had someone in costume do the hedgehog stuff. It was supposed to be funny and sometimes got some laughs.

OMG, you know someone who wrote for Deep Space 9?!...

2010-07-11T13:54:19.885-05:00

OMG, you know someone who wrote for Deep Space 9?! Too cool.

I took the orchestra route. I played violin from 6th through 11th grades then dropped out so I could be on the student newspaper. I did a little dance here and there, but not nearly as much as you.

@Alice: Did you have to make your own hedgehogs? ...

2010-07-11T13:50:34.580-05:00

@Alice: Did you have to make your own hedgehogs? I remember all of us spending a hot summer afternoon with paper mache and paint. We might have made the flamingos too, but I no longer remember. Seems like we could've gotten those from any place that sold retro lawn ornaments, so we probably only made the hedgehogs.

I created my own role in the play - writing in the...

2010-07-11T13:44:59.141-05:00

I created my own role in the play - writing in the part of a bookworm who narrated it so we could do an abridged version. I was also table legs, a card, and various other bit parts.

We did a series of performances in city parks, setting up our own stage and such. There were only about a dozen of us in the play.

@Alice: No way! What part did you get? I wanted ...

2010-07-11T13:02:22.496-05:00

@Alice: No way! What part did you get? I wanted to be the Red Queen, but the teenagers got all the big parts.

I was one of the youngest and had lied about my age (city-wide casting call and you were supposed to be ten or older), so I was the Dormouse. I didn't mind. I had been performing in dance since the age of four and I knew not to take these kinds of things personally.

Our Tea Party scene came together quickly, so we got to do fun stuff that the others didn't. We were sent out to do the Tea Party for local groups to advertise the show, and as a charitable endeavor. I remember very well the day we performed for the children's hospital. One of our Tea Party performances was even on the evening news.

The March Hare was one of my neighbors, which no doubt helped, since we already knew how to work together. It was the first time either of us had acted, but I was used to performing from all those years of dance, and I guess Lindy had theater in his blood because he went on to become a screenwriter with credits that include Deep Space Nine and the Arsenio Hall Show.

Looking back at my childhood, I spent fourteen years (4-18) performing in one capacity or another: ballet, tap, jazz dance, theater, speech and drama tournaments, high school drum corps, and three years as solo oboist in the high school symphonic band.

I'm not a talent, but I'm competent and willing to work hard when sufficiently inspired. Reading Theater Geek really got me thinking about my artsy childhood (I also painted in oils and won first place in a small art show) and why I sometimes flounder out here in the real world. I must be suffering from a lack of art. ;-)

OMG! I was also in a summer performance of Alice ...

2010-07-11T12:18:18.202-05:00

OMG! I was also in a summer performance of Alice in Wonderland. Only it was the summer between Jr. and Sr. year at H.S. and it was the repertory theater associated with a private class I'd attended for years. Only us seniors did the summer-long tour.

Comments on Ann PinoFiction Writer: Book Review: Theater Geek