Red Carpet Bound

All right, back into the swing. I have to say that getting dressed was pretty easy over the holiday season. Not only were things Kathryn advised me on very mix-and-match, I even remembered enough to spot some things that work in the rotation. You might have picked up here and there that I’m a bit skeptical in nature (no! really??) and so suspicious of how long the silk purse will last after the makeover shows release the sow’s ears they’ve transformed. Since I rate pretty much everyone’s shopping abilities above mine, I suppose there is hope for the world, if I can retain anything.

This is kind of an open challenge now, as we move forward (oh, Kathryn, are you listening?). As it happens I am up for a couple of awards and as such I have two awards galas coming up before the end of the month. Early in February, there is an opening night pending also. All three events are theatre related, therefore artsy and offbeat. As it happens I have Lovely Accomplices scheduled for two of these three events, and even an outside chance at a PAIR of Lovely Accomplices for the third event. Call me greedy, but Mr. Bond and Mr. Hefner would both approve, I think.

Now, despite the sophistication of these events, I’m likely a long shot to win an award as I am new on the scene, not an established name like my co-nominees, and I am just rather amused by the awards thing anyway, tickled to be involved. However, if I am going to go, Go Big, right? I recall a scene from Casino Royale where Eva Green says to Daniel Craig, “There are dinner jackets and there are Dinner Jackets. This is the latter.”

While I would swoon if Eva Green so much as called me a drop of donkey spittle, not even for her would I go out and buy more clothes. Come ON. I have my limits. However, Going Big requires an entrance (for which I have been tutored in a networking sense) and no longer happy with simply fitting in, I have the urge to make a Grand Statement, if only to improve my chances for next year.

So, the challenge is thus: a) Lovely Accomplices deserve a more streamlined me. What can we accomplish in a month? And b) how can I make three Grand Statements at three separate events within a three week period, where many of the same people will attend each? And no, I have NO BUDGET.

Of all the times to be caught without a tuxedo.

All in Favour of the Arts

Head over to the Brickenden Awards website to nominate for the local London theatre awards. If you aren’t in London, head over and vote for Scott Shpak, everywhere you see his name. His productions were Strangers on a Train, Evelyn’s Anguish, Tough, I’ll be Back Before Midnight and The Producers. I saw also Follies, which was very impressive and I heard that Three Musketeers was pretty good too. Lisa DesGroseilliers, who did sound for a bunch of shows, seems like a sweetie too, and we have talked about collaborating on a show in the future.

This is amateur, community theatre, surprising to me in its quality and scope, so winners or loser of the awards… don’t know it’s that big a deal, because really the winners are the people in the community who see the shows, as well as those of us who volunteer. It’s an All Win situation, and your votes, for whomever, are kind of little nudges of support.

All of this theatre is going on at a tough time in the economy, when funding for the arts is more difficult to come by and yet there are people who are so crazily masochistic that they will undertake massive projects and contribute to the vibrancy of  the arts at a grass roots level, making the fabric of the city’s cultural tapestry that much richer.

So vote for somebody, anybody, even if you don’t know who or what you’re voting for, and vote for the arts in your community. A year ago I didn’t even know London HAD theatre awards. Now I am up for one! Don’t let lower your opinion. The rest of the people are great and doing good work. They deserve way more shout outs than they get.