Bragging, but just a bit!

Discussion

July 3, 2009

By Tim Smith The Democrat Fri Jul 03, 2009, 05:25 PM CDT

Come out and enjoy the Kiwanis fireworks on Saturday the 4th at the Pauls Valley High School football stadium. It is always a great show.

Travel safely over the days ahead, and see some good theatre when you can.

And speaking of good theatre, (how about that for a segue): I really must share with you something exciting that happened last week.

First, some background information: I serve on the board of directors of the Oklahoma Community Theater Association (OCTA) and The Poteet Theatre from Oklahoma City won our state’s competition for community theatres during OCTAFest 2008 at the Pollard Theatre in Guthrie. Poteet’s production, “Jon and Jen,” then went on to win regional competition qualifying it for the national competition at AACTFest held in Tacoma, Washington. (AACT is the acronym for the American Association of Community Theater.)

The national event was conducted on June 23-27, 2009 and Oklahoma’s production won third place overall.

One of the theatres competing in Tacoma was the Chino Community Theatre (CCT) from Chino, California. Their production, “Scooter Thomas Makes It to the Top of the World” won first place overall.

What makes this such a special story for me is that from 1984-1987, I helped to launch CCT. The founding couple of CCT, Paul and Karen Larson, have remained special friends over these many years.

During the competition, they would call me on a regular basis to keep me informed.

In fact, on the Sunday following the finals, and on their way back to California, they called to give me a ‘play by play’ review of the entire event.

As an obbligato: The actor who won the Outstanding Performance by a Leading Actor for the festival, Jeremy Magourik (from CCT), studied theater at Southeastern in Durant. Oklahoma’s theatre traditions are alive and well, and we need to foster them whenever we can. Are these great states or what?

During this same period, the entertainment world lost Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

Pausing to reflect on their contributions, each certainly played a significant role shaping our cultural landscape.

I was fortunate to see Mr. McMahon ply his trade on three Tonight Show telecasts, once when Bob Newhart filled in for Mr. Carson and later with Carson himself behind the desk.

My most vivid memory of McMahon was watching him ready himself for his trademark, “HEEERRRREEE’S Johnny” opening.

He held the show’s script as he went through the normal pre-show announcements and in just that split second before the camera zoomed in to show him delivering that famous opening, he let the script slip ever so gently from his hands so his presentation would appear on screen as being totally natural, which it was. What a pro.

Live from the Highlands: It is 1983 and I continue trying to generate theatre work while con-currently building what would become a lifetime career in training and development.

Around this time, I would also work with a performing group in Pacific Palisades as their interim director on two musical theatre reviews.

Theatre too, on a summer evenings in our towns, stretching now from Oklahoma to Washington State. T A S

Text Only

Arts & History

‘Moneyball’ cash in the bank for best actor
Maybe it’s because math was always a special kind of hell for me throughout the education process, but any sort of award attached to a movie where it is the major dynamic seems like a cruel joke.

February 3, 2012 1 Photo
‘The Grey’ follows typical blah early year trend
As a relatively balanced movie fan, I tend to be open to the possibility of any time of the year having the chance to win over audiences, though there remains reasons why most of the awesome of the box office begins around summer.

February 1, 2012 1 Photo
‘War Horse’ gallops away with enamored audience
There may be some confusion among the top critics none of us pay any mind to on what films deserve the highest accolades as award season progresses, but as far as I’m concerned, a certain equestrian title is making a pretty strong case itself.

January 18, 2012 1 Photo
‘Tintin’ may be unsinkable come award time
There’s something to the idea that animation movie makers may have better figured out the art of story telling and could certainly teach a majority of their peers in the live action arena how to weave a plot.

January 6, 2012 1 Photo
‘The Muppets’ welcome in sentimental return
While bias is a position I try to leave to the talking heads of television, every now and again I come across a film I anticipate so much it’s hard for it to disappoint.

January 4, 2012 1 Photo
‘Chipwrecked’ floats better than first sequel
When it comes to the three most recognized singing rodents this side of the milky way galaxy, one wouldn’t think the term gimmick would be anything more than description as usual.

January 2, 2012 1 Photo
‘Holmes: Game of Shadows’ wows in witty sequel
Though I could be struck down by the critic gods at any moment, one thing Hollywood seems to get right more than when I was growing up is the art of the sequel.

December 28, 2011 1 Photo
‘Gen. Rex: Agent of Providence’ not even a noob’s paradise
As someone who has witnessed the best and worst video games have had to offer since ET almost killed consoles in the early years, I consider my range of terrible rankings to be rather flexible.

December 21, 2011 1 Photo
Stark caps off the year with Fine Dining
Pride in the local scene has always been a part of what drives Pauls Valley residents to make what is otherwise a small town compete with far larger peers.

December 20, 2011 1 Photo
‘Arthur Christmas’ best holiday flick in years
Welcome to holiday movies anonymous, the only support group where you can admit you are just like everyone else and watch the same holiday specials well past a sane number of times.

December 14, 2011 1 Photo
More Arts & History Headlines

Arts & History

Search Results

Discussion

Bragging, but just a bit!

Site Map

Contact Us