Schedule:

Morning Session: (10am – 1pm)

Hip-hop dance (10am – 10:30), Creative movement (10:30-11am)

Qi-Gong (10am – 11am), Karate (11am – 1pm)

Knitting, Real Estate,  Cartooning,  French, Tai-Chi, Texas Hold ‘em Poker, Shamanic Journeying, Introduction to Acting

Afternoon Session (1pm – 4pm)

Knitting, Public Speaking, Rice Prints, Social Media,  How to tell a Story,  Introduction to Vaudeville, Citizens Initiatives, Juggling, Bookbinding, Vintage Burlesque, Reflexology

I received the spark of music from Andy Krull, the hip guy who played the electric (!) guitar for the parish youth choir I joined at age twelve.
I had other interests and aspirations, but music had become the primary focus of my life by the time I escaped from college and moved to Boston.
I have sung in many choirs, learning from each director.  I was also accompanist for two local choral groups, and am currently organist and choir director at St. David’s in Kennebunk.

Tell us something you know that we may not know, about yourself or the world.
Barcelona is one of the greatest futbol teams that has ever been.  I put that in because, of the things I know, probably the fewest of “us” know that.
Which reminds me of another thing we may not know.  You probably do know of people wishing to be known differently. For instance, someone I know used to be a he and now wants to be known as a she. And you have probably heard of those wishing to be known as a ‘they’. Well, I recently heard of a former ‘they’ now wishing to be known as an ‘us’. I think I might have a problem with this one.

What inspires you and keeps you motivated?
Watching Barcelona play. I am also inspired, more and more, by the multitudinous miracles of Great Nature.
I think part of my motivation comes from my belief that in the field of music it is possible for someone to never stop growing.

Share with us something funny that has happened to you recently.

I have been delaying writing this, waiting for something funny to happen to me. For almost six months. Although I am sure that something funny has happened , and I just missed it, I am going to delay no longer!

Alhan middle eastern ensemble

How do you bridge the gap between what this profession pays and making a living?
I am lucky. I haven’t had to work as a house-painter in more than five years. I wear several musical hats, three of which actually provide income! I also live as a housemate with four (used to be six) other people.

"Fire on Fire" - one of Tom K's bands

What’s the best advice for the creative person that someone has given you?
I don’t know if it’s “the best” – or even good- advice, but it’s the one I seem to have ended up following. According to a book-cover (the old days) I had, Mark Twain said “Put all your eggs in one basket. And then — watch that basket!”

What projects are in the pipeline for you? Do you have a “dream” project?
I have been working on my first ever solo recording for almost two years now (kind of a tar sands pipeline). And I am not procrastinating, even though this recording has nothing to do with something funny happening to me recently.
Dream project? I would like to play in the World Cup 2014. I am many years too old, and I only recently began playing, and these are only two of the reasons why this is a DREAM project.

Would you like to share you contact information? How can readers find out more about you?
(Editor’s note: Tom K. does not use e-mail, nor does he own a cell phone or answer his land-line. If you would like to meet him, your next opportunity will be at The Blue Lobster Troupe’s Winter Concert at Lucid Stage on February 19th at 7:30pm.)

Saturday, April 21st 2012.

Information on presenting companies coming soon. In the mean time, here’s how to register yourself….

MeACT, Maine Association of Community Theaters, a Maine not-for-profit corporation, will be producing our annual one-act play festival and workshops for MeACT members.

What’s it all about?

• Have Fun – If we can’t do this the whole exercise is pointless.
• Have an annual scheduled event that doesn’t conflict with our seasonal productions ‘cause we’ve all included it in our own schedules.
• Comradery – Get to know other Community Theater groups and their members. We, who have been participating since MeACT’s inception, really enjoy getting together each year – it may be the only time we actually see each other all year.
• Share Information, Ideas & Innovations – not to mention props, costumes, scripts, techniques and training opportunities. The Festival workshops often provide a springboard for further discussion and cooperation.
• Act as an entry point for Maine Community Theater groups’ participation in AACT regional (via the New England Theatre Conference) and National and International festivals, should they desire to do so. Groups considering this avenue should consult the most recent edition of the AACT Festival handbook which is available online.
• For more information about MeACT and the 2010 Festival, contact foner.curtis@lonza.com

For any theatre groups that are considering progressing competitively beyond the State level we follow the elements AACTFest handbook to AACT Regionals and/or Nationals. “It is recommended that performances submitted  for competition must run no more than 60 minutes, not including set-up and strike unless these elements contribute to the performance. 

If your group is interested in participating in a non-competitive manner (as most of our groups are) the time element is not as restrictive and allowance can be made but we do encourage a performance of less than 60 minutes (including set-up and strike) so as to keep the day manageable. 

To enter the Festival, if your group is not a MeACT member, you will need to join MeACT, with annual membership dues of $30 for your entire group. Festival registration, a separate item, is an additional $30.  All fees are used to defray the expenses associated with the Festival and the events which take place therein.

The registration fee is due no later than the day of the Festival. Registration Deadline is April 1st, 2012.

Once you decide to participate, please e-mail me the following information as soon as it is known.

            Theater Group Name

            Theater address

            Theater Phone, Theater E-mail and website

            Show Director      

            Title of One-Act Play

            Playwright

            Royalty Rights/Publisher

 Further details on the schedule for the day, order of show presentation, workshops, etc. will be forthcoming after April 1st.

1. The Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund

2. The Maine Theater Fund

3. The Maine Equity Fund

and also the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust.

Tell us something you know that we may not know, about yourself or the world.
I’m a music junkie and have been all of my life. There are, like, over 125,000 tracks in my iTunes library. I own thousands and thousands of CDs and keep them all alphabetized as best I can. I won’t throw out all the boxes of cassette tapes I keep upstairs in our farmhouse outside of Buckfield. I still own a record player and use it frequently and can often be spotted leaving Bull Moose – or any other of the incredible used-record shops in Maine – with a medium-sized stack of vinyl tucked under my arm. Music is my most longest-lasting love affair, and it’s a co-dependent one, to boot, since every morning I wake up and ask myself, “Should I pursue some short-term goals in the hopes of achieving my long-term ones? Or should I hunt down copies of albums by bands with names like Cults, Black Lips, the Horrors and Ringo Deathstarr, just to hear what all the fuss is about?”  The long-/short-terms goals, alas, usually have to wait.

What inspires you and keeps you motivated?
Great movies, great documentaries, great TV shows, great books, great plays. Last night I watched “Half Nelson”, the Ryan Gosling movie, and thought it was pretty impressive how it dealt with mega-huge issues like race and drug use and disenchantment in an deftly honest, offhand manner. “Breaking Bad” is so damn good it’s utterly intimidating, and if Giancarlo Esposito doesn’t take home one of the big trophies for his performance as Gus, I’m gonna be really mad. August: Osage County and Becky Shaw are probably my two favorite plays of the 21st century, and reading Tom Perrotta novels usually leave me wanting to crank out one or two of my own. Nice weather helps, too. One too many a rainy day always gets me down, and Mondays are usually a bitch.

Share with us something funny that has happened to you recently.

Smith Galtney

A few months ago, I’m putzing around our cottage a little too long one morning and the UPS man comes knocking. I answer the door, still wearing my bathrobe and slippers, and our English bulldog runs out and flops down on the deck. So I sign for the package, and the UPS man turns and starts making his way back to his truck, while I look at our dog and ask, “Would you like to come inside?” But the UPS man half-looks back, like maybe I’d asked him this question, and heads for the truck just a little bit faster. The whole encounter left me feeling like a very lonely housewife.

How do you bridge the gap between what this profession pays and making a living?
I may not be lonely, but I am a housewife, to a certain extent. My partner maintains a steady gig on the work front, and he’s done rather well for himself and for us in recent years. Hence I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to flex my skills as a domestic general and neophyte actor.

What’s the best advice for the creative person that someone has given you?
In the words of the muy-talented and ever-bodacious Rachel Flehinger, “Fuck it” and “fail big.” Anytime you step in front of people, onstage or otherwise, there’s a 99.999% chance that you’re going to look and feel like a dork. So just go out and totally own every ounce of that dork-ness! Audiences always connect with someone who’s giving them the proverbial 110%, even if the show or the scene or the bit they’re watching sucks. If you give them anything less, the only thing you’ll earn is their charity and pity applause, or their pity and charity applause.

What projects are in the pipeline for you? Do you have a “dream” project?
I just started a new acting class called “Duos” at Acorn Productions, taught by Rachel Flehinger (yeah, her again). I also just completed a weeklong workshop on Digital Photography at the Maine Media Center, and I’m excited to explore and expand on everything I learned there by taking lots of pictures throughout the fall. As for a “dream” project, I’d love give a crack at writing something for the stage. I recently read Conor McPherson’s Port Authority, a trio of interlinked monologues, and would love to create something similar, perhaps a trio of interlinked monologues involving pop-music obsessive and vinyl addicts? I’d call it Disco-Dependent!

Would you like to share you contact information? How can readers find out more about you?
I’ve yet to maintain a personal blog or website for any significant period of time. But there’s always my Facebook page, I guess. And if you want to read some of my journalism, feel free to Google me.