INSPIRATION
Herb Altman shared a piece of inspiration from Mr. (Fred) Rogers. “If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet, how important you can be to the people you can never even dream of, there is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS, Etc.
Tomorrow’s meeting (8/31) is in person, outdoors at Swan Point Cemetery. Reservations are required but no more are available. This meeting will not be available on Zoom.
Pres. Bryan briefly mentioned the last board meeting. They talked about the challenges that go with future meetings. Also, a committee is being formed to organize hands-on service projects.
HAPPY BUCKS
Jim Gilcreast gave $1 Happy Buck, just because.
Phil and Deb Gossel pledged $10 Happy Bucks for Phil’s upcoming early retirement from Brown University in December and their plans to move back home to the mountains of New Hampshire.
$1 Happy Buck from Wendy Marcus for “Dancing in the Streets” by Festival Ballet of Providence. The avenue in front of the Kizizian Elementary School was turned into a dance studio for a day.
$5 Happy Bucks from Barbara Harris for finally being able to travel to Cleveland and hug her kids and grandkids.
From Rob Black, his great trip to Pittsburgh warrants $5. Great story about his visit to the Heinz History Museum and the pickle and ketchup jars found intact from a sunken steam boat on the Ohio River in 1856.
Kris David added $1 Happy Buck to the pot, remembering a summer job in Michigan as pickle jar stuffer and then great promotion to pickle sorter.
Anthony Hollingshead pitched in $1 Happy Buck for attending from his vacation spot in Maine. New laptop, no internet service, but great cell service, thank goodness!
$5 Happy Bucks promised from Herb Altman for the Speechify app., developed by a dyslexic Brown student for kids with learning disabilities.
All were reminded to send all Happy Bucks checks to Rob Black, Box 90, Barrington, RI 02806.
Welcome Asst. DG Sharon Johnson.
PANDEMICS AND THEATERS:
1606 AND NOW
Trinity Repertory’s Artistic Director, Curt Columbus, put things in historical context with a short but interesting story of the plague that hit London in Shakespeare’s day, the Bubonic Plague.
In 1606, King Lear and Macbeth hit the stage, in addition to several other plays. This was “an incredible year” for great hits until the Plague’s arrival. 140 people were dying per week in a city of 80 to 90,000, and the theater closed for a year.
A smooth segue into today’s situation, Curt talked about the challenges facing Trinity Rep in the midst of COVID-19. How does one bring Dicken’s “Christmas Carol” to the public, for example, when this one play alone generates one-third of the Rep’s income? Employees are laid off, tourism takes a major hit, money is lost. However, this “down time” is also giving the theater time to move towards a more anti-racist, diverse generation of actors.
He gave us a preview of the announcement, made public later in the week, that A Christmas Carol WILL be presented this year with two new twists: it will be online and it will be free.
