One of the great things about working here at the Clarence Brown Theatre is being able to get to know some very talented people.  Some of those are guest artists.  Some are students on their way up.  And some are those who have chosen this as the place where they practice their vocation.

For example, there is Clarence Brown Theatre Company Member Carol Mayo Jenkins.  I’ll confess that a few years ago, when I heard that someone of that name was coming here to perform, I thought that the name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.  Then someone mentioned Fame, and of course I instantly knew who it was.  Fortunately, Carol has stayed with us to perform and to teach, and to let us know who she really  is.  What a wonderful resource to have here!

The website Real Live Theater has just published a story entitled Carol Mayo Jenkins: creating a life beyond the footlights that illustrates Carol’s life journey through theatre.  It’s highly recommended reading.

Thanks for sharing your life with us, Carol Mayo Jenkins!

We’ve been very fortunate.

Over the years I’ve been in the Clarence Brown Box Office, we have employed a number of UT students as Box Office Associates.  Some of these have been Theatre students; some not.  With extremely few exceptions, they have been wonderful people who have provided wonderful service to our patrons.

As much as we would like to keep them all, most of them eventually find a way to graduate and move on with their careers.  Some have scattered around the country, some even working in theatre, and even a few in ticketing-related positions!

I personally feel blessed to have known them all.

Last Friday, The University of Tennessee College of Arts and Sciences held its Spring Commencement in Thompson-Boling Arena.  Many watched the ceremony via the Internet, perhaps because of the speaker, East Tennessee’s own Dolly Parton.  She was, of course, wonderful.  However, I was watching for another reason — since I couldn’t be there in person, I wanted to see two of our Associates, Amy and Jo Jo, receive their Bachelor of Arts degrees. 

Jo Jo Nanney Cruce has been with us all four years of her time at UT.  There’s no mistaking JoJo — her exuberance, friendliness, and curiosity set her apart.  Unfortunately for us, she is leaving Knoxville with her husband, who recently returned from Iraq and is leaving the Army to become a student at NC State.  We will miss you, Jo Jo!

Amy Loyd has been with us a long time, on and off.  We’ve seen Amy go through a lot of life’s adventures over the years, and were really excited to see her return to school and now receive her degree.  Amy doesn’t hide her feelings, so you know where you stand with her!  She is a keen observer of people, and is skilled at making observations with unmatched sense of humor.  She’s also a great mother and a good friend.  We’re not sure what her next step is, but value her greatly.

I’ve been neglectful in recognizing our graduates in the past.  We’ve been lucky to have a couple of recent ones still helping us out — the talented Rachel Winfrey, who received her degree last December, and the very organized Elizabeth Hendrich Margle, who graduated last year.

One update — the irrepressible Tracy Eileen Bowden, a UT graduate a couple of years ago, is now working at the Performing Arts Box Office at Duke University!

And of course, we haven’t forgotten those of years past, either.  We love you too!

Aspiring actors must seize any opportunities to advance their craft.  Thanks to YouTube, the fruits of these labors may re-appear years later!

Let’s take a look at “George” in this film from the National Dairy Council (1963?), along with the appreciative comments from the hosts of Mystery Science Theatre 3000.  Look familiar?

The rest is history.

Here’s the YouTube link.  The farm film doesn’t start until about 6:40 into the clip, so if you’re just wanting to see the Artistic Director as a Boy, skip to there.

In case you missed it, Tennessee Today had this profile of UT Theatre Department Head and Clarence Brown Theatre Artistic Director Cal MacLean.

Sad news — Dan Owenby died this morning.

Dan loved the theatre.  He performed all over the area, in many professional productions, but amateur shows as well.  He just loved to act. 

His affiliation with the UT Theatre Department and the Clarence Brown Theatre extended back several decades, and he even spent a year here as Acting General Manager.  He was the one who interviewed me and hired me to come to the Box Office 10 1/2 years ago, and we appeared in several shows together.

His license tag (at least at one time) was “OFFBOOK”, but I can’t help but to recall that one of his finest performances was one without any lines at all — in Dance In Time (he wasn’t slighted — no one had any lines in that show — but it was amazing.)  Dan’s role as the bartender throughout most of the play was as a background performer, but with the arrival of a bottle of Coca-Cola in the aftermath of the war, he really brought his character to explosive life.

Dan had been in ill health for years and had to retire from his teaching position at Powell High School a few years ago on disability.  He’d had a kidney transplant, was in a coma for a while, and had been in and out of hospitals on numerous occasions.  But he always maintained his sense of humor (sometimes sarcastic!) and remained interested in what we were doing here. 

During the past four months,  things went bad and further surgeries or treatments would no longer help, so finally the tubes and IVs were removed and he passed away.

Dan was not one to want a conventional funeral, but some form of celebration of Dan’s life will be held soon — Mynatt’s Funeral Home is in charge, but there is no visitation planned there.

Dan, you will be missed.

Our thoughts and prayers are with our friend and former colleague, Thomas Adkins, in the death of his mother, Debra Stearley Adkins.  Mrs. Adkins passed away Sunday; the family will receive friends 6-7 p.m. Wednesday (Aug. 27) at Atchley’s Smoky Mountain Chapel, Pigeon Forge.  A memorial service is scheduled afterwards (7 p.m.).  Here’s the obituary notice.

Thomas (Tommy) was an undergraduate theatre student at U.T.  He was a student worker here in the Clarence Brown Theatre Box Office, and after graduating became Assistant Box Office Manager and subsequently Company Manager.  He then did graduate study and received his MFA degree from The University of Alabama and joined the faculty there.

Recently, Tommy moved to New York City as the Associate Director of Ticketing and Travel for the Theatre Development Fund (the “tkts” booth people).  His email address is wthomasadkins@gmail.com.  I’m sure he’d love to here from his old friends.

Three undergraduate theatre students at The University of Tennessee are presenting The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged as a rehearsal project.

The show is a parody of the plays written by William Shakespeare with all of them being performed (in shortened form) during the show by only three actors, Ash Edwards, Seth Crowe, and Rachel Winfrey.  The director is UT Theatre MFA performance student Matthew Bassett.

“Why should you come?  It’s outrageously entertaining, but at the same time extremely educational.  This makes the show ideal as a possible extra-credit assignment; students will learn while laughing.  And who knows, you might even be one of the lucky audience members picked to help out the actors on stage!”

Performed in the Clarence Brown Lab Theatre (enter via the ramp from the University Mall near the corner of Andy Holt Avenue and Melrose Place.) 

Performance Dates:
Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008  8 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 5, 2008       8 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008  8 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008    2 p.m.

Admission is free!  (donations are accepted)

Further information: email rwinfrey@utk.edu.

This blog’s author is in Chicago, attending the INTIX Conference & Exposition.  And he’s getting some help back home…

INTIX is short for the International Ticketing Association, which bills itself as “Advancing the Success of the Admission Services Industry”.  In other words, we sell tickets.

As some of you know, I love Chicago, due mainly to my yearly pilgrimages to Wrigley Field.  Unfortunately, the Cubs aren’t playing right now, so I’m not used to being here during the Winter. I’ve heard it gets cold…

But no, the weather forecasters promised “spring-like” weather today.  I love a good sense of humor!  True, the temperature did get into the low 40s, but with winds of 20-30 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph!  There was snow on the ground, and the Chicago River had huge chunks of ice.  And now, there’s an inch or two of new snow expected, with temperatures plunging perhaps 40 degrees.  I’m glad I brought the heavy coat.  Here’s a lovely view of Chicago from my hotel room:

The glass covered tower under construction center left is the new Trump Tower; the neo-gothic Tribune Tower is to the right.  in the foreground left is the icy Chicago River.  You might notice a tour boat at right shore at the bottom of the photo — it actually headed for Lake Michigan with a few hearty (foolhearty?) souls on board this afternoon.

At any rate, the conference starts in earnest tomorrow and I have many meetings scheduled as we try to figure out how to do our ticketing better.  It’s fun being in Chicago (I’ve already made one visit to the Billy Goat Tavern (the inspiration for “Cheezborger, Cheesborger”!)), but it’s going to be an exhausting week.

And just when you have everything planned out, life throws a curve — CBT Box Office Assistant Manager Sarah Burton had to undergo emergency surgery Sunday, so our student box office workers and other CBT’ers have stepped up big time to keep the box office running while we’re both gone.  There are a few bumps along the way that we’re smoothing as we go, but it is great to see our people rising to the occasion.  Things are in good hands back home.  A good “disaster planning” exercise…

Meanwhile, Sarah, continue your recovery, and we’ll be glad to see you as soon as you’re able!

We loved the work of our own Clarence Brown Theatre Company member David Brian Alley in the CBT production of Stones in His Pockets.

The reviewers of INDY: The Independent Weekly   of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina liked his work in the Playmakers Repertory Theatre production of the same play as well:  they awarded David (along with co-star David Friedlander) one of their Best Lead Performances awards for 2007. 

Others who have worked on CBT productions received awards as well: The Playmakers Reportory production of When the Bulbul Stopped Singing, performed by Joe Haj, won the award for Special Achievement in the Humanities.  John Feltch won for Best Direction for Stones in His Pockets, which also won in the Best Productions category.

Congratulations David and others!

We really like the version of A Christmas Carol  that we’re doing at the Clarence Brown Theatre this year.  It’s very traditional yet fresh — and people love it!

But there are some very different takes on the old tale out there.  The Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. is presenting A Christmas Carol 1941, set in our nation’s capital just after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  The Scrooge character is instead a war profiteer, and instead of the three Ghosts of the original story, there are the statue-like Victory, Freedom, and Grief.

Here’s a picture from the show — notice former CBT’er Connan Morrisey as Freedom (in the center, looking like the statue on top of the U.S. Capitol).

And if you’re in the mood for something less Christmas-y and more swashbuckling in the Washington area, you can head up to Bethesda to Connan’s husband (and former CBT Artistict Director) Blake Robison’s theatre, the Round House Theatre, for their holiday production of Treasure Island.  The lighting design is by our own Kenton Yeager! Blake directs; Jeff Modereger (who designed Oliver! at the CBT) is the set designer.