Happiest
of Holidays and Seasons Greetings
from Terry J. Aman at tjaman.com!
First off, thank you for stopping by! Even without the recession the postage was getting out of hand for Christmas letters. So a few of you got a version of this in the mail, but most of you got here from either the postcard or from Facebook – another new thing for me this year.
It’s been an
exciting year for me. I took part in a couple of community theater productions,
some of which a few of you were able to take in, and that’s my second Christmas
thank you – my folks have been so supportive of this hobby of mine throughout
the years. Even though they know my time isn’t my own and I can’t spend much
time with them while the shows are going on, just their willingness to come up
and take in a show and maybe spend a couple hours here and there catching up,
that means so much to me, and I don’t express it often or well enough. So much
love for them.
One show, with the Mouse River
Players, took a humorous historical look at life in Prohibition-era Minot. I
took on the role of Gramps, the blind piano player, in Ron Fischer’s original
work
“Last of the Minot Flappers.” This, as it turns out, took quite a bit of doing.
First, we got the
piece ready for the Mouse River Players stage in about a month. Most shows I’m
involved with take about twice that long getting to the stage. Secondly, the
cast was HUGE, and yet our tireless director, Conrad Davidson, got us prepped
and ready, got our chorus songs and solos sounding right – even though we were
rewriting music throughout the process. Our costumes mistress, Lin
Knickerbocker, got some really authentic-looking costumes pulled together very
quickly – some of them actual vintage dresses. And we were joined by an actual
vintage Flapper, Arlene Saugstad, 96, with whom I can now have been said to
have danced the Charleston.
Tough and fun as
that was, getting it ready for stage by the first week in March, the show was
so popular we actually committed to a reprise over Labor Day weekend. Well,
knowing about one Minot Area Theatrical Society production I also wanted to be
a part of in the fall of the year, and with a second run of “Flappers” on the
schedule, I decided to sit out tryouts for MSU summer theater.
Over the summer I
took a little time to do a little bit of writing. I took part in a weekly
writing challenge called “100 Word
Stories,” also known as “drabble.” It’s fun to try to
tell a complete story in the unforgiving constraints of 100 words. As you can
see, I tend to write long.
I remember I started
around then because I was listening to the “100 Word Stories Podcast” by
Laurence Simon while walking to the Integrity Jazz Festival in Roosevelt Park.
That’s a good long walk for me on one of the hottest days of the year, so it’s
seared into my memory. I took in the Glenn Miller Orchestra with good friends
Carol Ann Jones of Stanley and Arlene Saugstad herself, and then took in the
MSU Summer Theater production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat.” It was a full day and performances throughout were superb.
The MATS production
I wanted to take part in was “Deathtrap,”
and I was cast as the lawyer guy, Porter Milgram, which was a fun little role,
and nicely manageable as rehearsals overlapped with the Mouse River Players’
reprise of “Flappers.” We met about three weeks in August getting the stage
rebuilt and our roles nailed in – it’s amazing what you can forget in six
months! – and ultimately I thought we turned in a pretty good performance,
despite it being very, very warm on that stage some nights.
The MATS production
itself was set for October, and that was the show my folks were able to make it
to. My character, the lawyer guy (above, center) had some fun lines – despite
its being a dramatic thriller it had some good comic scenes in it. Mostly I was
there to advance the plot a bit toward the middle and cap off the show with a
funny ending. I enjoyed doing what I could do, and working with a great group
of folks on some really outstanding storytelling. At the MATS award show this
year, “Deathtrap” took an award for best mainstage production and our director,
Alyssa Swiney, was awarded best mainstage director for 2009.
It was right through
the middle-end of August and first part of September I got some terrible joint
pain in my right foot, which arrived mysteriously, left mysteriously and kept me
from walking for a few weeks last summer. If it had any benefit at all, it did
help my “old man shuffle” somewhat for my Gramps character, but mostly it was
just this dull throbbing ache that made even getting up to cross a room a
chore. I’ll just say before it left, I couldn’t remember a time that my foot
didn’t hurt. I’m very glad it’s gone.
Otherwise I’ve
managed to maintain a pretty good walking regimen, averaging 8 to 10 miles a
week for most of three years, now. I walk outside when I can, over at the
college when I have to, and mostly I enjoy the time. I listen to a wide variety
of podcasts on the topics of music, science, current events and literature.
Since March, I have
also been producing a weekly podcast, titled “TV is the New Reading,” which
refers to my appreciation of the excellent work being done in scripted
television. It’s true that there’s a lot of formula and reality nonsense out
there, but there are also quite a few shows doing it right – mostly smaller,
more character-driven basic cable productions that are better able to
accommodate smaller, dedicated audiences.
My podcast mirrors
my column, which appears weekly in the paper – this year will be my 10th
year as features editor with The Minot Daily News. I used to write a second
column that appeared in our television guide, before that was taken over by
corporate. Now both columns appear as biweekly blog entries at minotdailynews.com
– and are released as a two-part weekly podcast at http://tjaman.libsyn.com.
Here’s how you can
listen: You can click the podcast link above and, on the page that appears,
click on any POD icon (
) and it
will probably start playing automatically. If you need to download Quicktime or
Windows Media Player you can do that for free and they’re pretty safe – I’ve been
running them for years and have never had a problem. Also, you can download my
podcast through a free subscription at iTunes. Just type “tjaman” in at the
iTunes store and it comes right up.
Along with work and theater, I was able
to make it home this summer for my dad’s 70th birthday. I was
impressed anew with all the work he’s been doing around the house. The deck
he’s installing has expanded to wrap around three sides of the house and with
huge sun-catching windows and walk-out access to the grill it’s such a
beautiful extension of their living space. I’m just so proud of the work my dad
has done out there, and it was such a beautiful day with everyone who could
make it, we all had a great time. More photos are available here.
Yes, after many,
many years of pretending social networking
media would go away on its own, I’ve been lured onto Facebook.
Which has been perfectly fine. A number of people are reading this who wouldn’t
have a year ago. I’ve been able to share photos more easily with more people
and reconnect with people I might not have otherwise. And it’s occurred to me
that we’re much more easily informed about what’s going on with each other
these days which makes us feel more connected with our world. And it’s true, I
know more about what’s going on with more people at work and in my theater
group than I would have. And they know more about me. More conversations are
sparked, more communication happens, more understanding happens about where
people are coming from, and generally that can only be a good thing, right?
There’s also
something a little “Borg” from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” about it, of
course, but that’s still at least a little theoretical. For now, the Faces are
harmonious. They wish you to join.
Coming up, I’m
looking forward to directing my own mystery farce titled “Let’s Murder Marsha”
by Monk Ferris, featuring a giddy mystery lover who suspects her husband is
planning to murder her for her birthday. It opens the MATS 2010 season April
5-8, 2010, with more details available here.
And, for the most part, that’s what’s been going on with me for the past year. While 2009 has been a truly challenging year for quite a large number of people, I hope the good has outweighed the bad, that we approach each other as a blessing, and recall that joys, when shared, are multiplied, and sorrows shared are halved.
Beyond that, have a
most excellent holiday season, and from all of me to all of you,
Merry
Christmas 2009, and a blessed New Year!