Dr. Patrick Kavanaugh has been safely returned

Wednesday at 8:27pm Dr. Patrick Kavanaugh was abducted by a giant slow loris. Brandon Langeland was named as the interim Festival director. His first order of business was to conduct a Town Hall discussion and vote on whether or not Chewbacca's belching should initiate a ban on extra-terrestrial beings being allowed into Alpha Dining Hall. There was a unanimous acceptance of aliens, belching or not, and that kicked off a rousing hour of comedy improv, followed by enacted prayer and improvised worship which ran without pause until midnight.

Dr. Kavanaugh made his escape from the slow loris by tickling it on its sides.

A toast to our cookout

The MasterWits are prepping for our improv tonight with some brewskies: microbrewed cream soda and ginger ale.

A bear in the woods

Our theatre program was well represented in Sunday morning's service with Brandon Langeland's sketch, "Bear Witness". Actors, from left to right, are Josh Knox, Danny Cornett and Brandon Langeland.

Brain mapping MasterWorks students

Just before MasterWorks started this year I took a four-day course on Whole Brain® Thinking. I used some of what I'd learned with our MasterWorks students to help them understand how they and the characters they played think.

What a terrific group!

We just wrapped week one at MasterWorks, and what a great group of actors! We have half of Cyrano de Bergerac blocked, honors recital audition prep is coming along, and we are on the eve of the arrival of our first master class artist, Curt Cloninger, the first actor I ever saw doing a one-man play. Woo hoo! Life is good!

Yesterday we had a Skype call with a MasterWorks alum, Irene Kao. She stayed up late to speak in our first class of the day. She's training in Melbourne, Australia, at their National Institute of Dramatic Art, where Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe trained.

For our full lineup go to itinerary.richdrama.com.

Happy Father's Day!

This is the card I sent my dad. The main photo is him as Capt. Zapp, an air show clown. From the left to right the other photos show him at a race in college, smudging in his orchard, and flying a gyrocopter he invented.

You've been a huge inspiration, Dad! Have a wonderful Father's Day.
Love,
Rich

Hero Dad Father's Day 5x7 folded card

Modern greeting cards and party invitations by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Program Notes for Cyrano de Bergerac

Lindsey Fredrick wrote up our program notes for our theatre production at the MasterWorks Festival this summer: Cyrano de Bergerac

Paradise Lost at MasterWorks

Terry Ewell, bassoon instructor at MasterWorks and Towson University, composed music to accompany excerpts from John Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost. We performed the piece at the International Double Reed Festival in Tempe, AZ, and we had many positive responses. While walking around the campus of Arizona State University, which hosted the conference, several people stopped us to tell us how much they appreciated it.

We'll perform the piece during the MasterWorks Festival on June 30 at 3:30pm in McLain Auditorium.

Terry and I will also perform an excerpt on the faculty recital next Sunday night.

Join The Journey

 Terry Ewell, who composed and produced our recent performances of Paradise Lost just wrote a devotion for his church: Be a Good Example.

Walking in Memphis

I'm in Memphis to help lead a workshop. This is the first sign I've seen of residual damage from their recent floods, but I've heard there's still water standing further south.

Paradise Lost well received

The performance went off without a hitch, and we received a lot of positive feedback.

We're about to begin

http://RichDrama.com/ParadiseLost

Frank Lloyd Wright design

My friend and fellow MasterWorks (http://MasterWorksFestival.org) faculty member Matt Morris performed in Gammage Hall on the amazing campus of the Arizona State Sun Devils. I'll perform Paradise Lost (http://RichDrama.com/ParadiseLost) tomorrow in a different building as a part of the same International Double Reed Conference.

Gammage Hall was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for a group in Bangkok, but they never built it. ASU, one of the three largest universities in the US with about 60,000 students, bought the plans after Wright's death.

Double Reeds

I just arrived at the University of Arizona in Tempe, AZ, to perform Paradise Lost (http://RichDrama.com/ParadiseLost). My cab driver was from Iraq, so I practiced a few Arabic phrases I picked up a couple of weeks ago in Jordan. He paid for his girlfriend to visit Jordan where she is currently exploring where Jesus walked. She was surprised he would do that since he's Muslim, but I think he's not far from the Kingdom.