I received a phone call last week. The caller asked if Mason was available to be in another musical. He’s already involved in two, with productions occurring the last week of April and the first week of May. I explained that his schedule was pretty tight, and asked for more information.

It’s a religious rendition of the Willy Wonka story that will be performed for children in the city who attend the big Easter Egg Hunt. Each child at the performance will be given a chocolate bar but there will be “plants” in the audience (the actors in the play) who will have the golden tickets.

She said they really want Mason and he won’t even need to come to rehearsals (because he already has rehearsals for Annie scheduled on those days). She said I could work with him at home because he’ll be the first one killed off. (She didn’t word it that way but I later teased Mason about it.) Why? Because they want him to be Augustus Gloop! He was SUPER excited when he discovered that he gets to bounce up on stage clutching his golden ticket, speaking in a Swedish accent (“I von! I von!!”), with chocolate smeared all over his face.

Mason recently went through a pretty startling growth spurt. He grew several inches, and thinned out completely so we’ll need to stuff his clothes to make him chubby. That made him even more excited! He LOVES to make people laugh!

She said that, if Mason could participate, they wanted me in the play, too. Gee, thanks Mason. Ha ha ha.

They first wanted me to be Augustus’ mother but they changed my part so I’ll be in the play longer. They changed the TV-addicted boy into a girl who’s addicted to the Internet and I’ll be her mother. Here’s the problem… I am HORRIBLE at memorizing lines. I don’t know if it’s anxiety or what but it’s very difficult for me. I can remember the email address of someone I contacted a year ago but I can’t memorize lines! And, I have more lines than I did in the Christmas musical. If any of you have any secrets on memorizing lines, please let me know!!

We already had our first rehearsal (Mason WAS able to attend that one) and it looks like it’s going to be a pretty impressive production. They’ve acquired (I assume rented) several professional quality puppets (they look like they’re from Sesame Street and the puppeteers have to handle them with white gloves) and they will also be singing and dancing during the production as well.

In other news, Max (age 18) passed all four GED tests on his first try with each one (he was homeschooled so he didn’t have a standard diploma – and the math GED is VERY difficult now!), was accepted at welding school, and just started his first job last week. He is currently saving money so he can move out on his own some time this year. He is very ambitious and we are SOOOOO proud of him! 🙂

RELATED

• Maternal Guilt and Mason’s New Off-Off-Off-Broadway Roles!
• Local Restaurant Poisons Actors an Hour Before Their Final Performance
• The Fire Department Comes for a Surprise Visit!
• The EXACT Moment I Knew I Wanted to Be a Writer…
• First Guitar Lesson Injury!
• “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!” (Mason pulls a funny stunt on his dad!)

Follow Angela: twitter | facebook | linkedin

The Art and Craft of Writing and Editing

Writing is a constant dialogue between author and reader.

The craft of writing involves an interchange of emotions between an author and a reader. An author creates a story line, conflict, and characters, gives his characters words to speak, and then hands off these materials to a reader. This process results in a constant dialogue between the mental imagery produced by a reader and that proposed by the author.

Read more here:

https://writersweekly.com/books/6712.html

Writing FAST: How to Write Anything with Lightning Speed

A systematic approach to writing that generates better quality quickly!

Chock full of ideas, tips, techniques and inspiration, this down-to-earth book is easy to read, and even easier to apply. Let author Jeff Bollow take you through a process that brings your ideas to the page faster, more powerfully and easier than ever before.

Read more here:
https://writersweekly.com/books/3695.html

Make Sure Your Marketing is Targeted at the Right Audience