What if you threw a fundraiser and nobody came?

So we had a winetasting planned...and we were good to go next Saturday...and the place was affordable...and though it had a 20 person limit, I thought, "we can do this"...bring in some cash...really kick off the fall fundraising drive...yeah! I was psyched, psyched I tell you. I put together the Evite. I invited 128 people. I thought, "we can get 10 people to pay 60 bucks for a winetasting, no problem."

Well, actually...Big problem. I don't know if it's the economy or if it's the idea of a winetasting or maybe this is a time when people are travelling a lot? I don't know. I just know that there wasn't enough interest for folks to commit and it suddenly was not a financially viable fundraising idea so I had to cancel, :( which if you can't tell from the emoticon, makes me sad...

So, now what? Where does that leave us? Well, we're still aiming for an October fundraiser. Now we're focused on a Halloween Costume Party. Hopefully the price tag change from $60 to $10 will make a difference. I mean, come on, you go to a party and bring a bottle of wine or a 6 pack of decent beer and you're spending more then 10 bucks so hopefully people will be down for the fundraising aspect of it and we'll make some bank...even if it's just a little bank.

And, we're looking towards the next few months. I think November is out because it'll be so soon after the Halloween Party and then we're into Thanksgiving, but a Holiday Cookie Party in December? Well that might be some fun. Nothing too crazy-just picking a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and inviting people to come on by whenever they want during like a 4 hour period, roll out some cookies and bake them. Kids will be welcome. There will be wine for the grown ups and the brand new Kitched Aid I got for a wedding present can get some use...I figure people can pay $15-$20 and come away with a dozen cookies or so. We'll supply the dough and the oven and the wine and we'll have a nice afternoon holiday party...

So, hopefully that will bring in some bucks (again, we're not talking thousands of dollars but maybe a few hundred).

And, that should take us through the end of the year. I will say that with fundraising slowing to a crawl, we're looking at postponing the show a bit, which is a bummer, but I'd rather wait until we have the funds and do Dreamers of the Day in March or April or even early May, than rush it into production with one fifth of the budget we really need to make the show everything it could be.

Never fear, I'm bummed but not discouraged and I'm NOT giving up. This show, when we pull it off, is going to be FANTASTIC!!! And I am COMMITTED to making it everything I know it can be. Keep your fingers crossed that the money starts flowing. I'll keep everyone posted on progress as we go.

...AND WE HAVE A SHOW!!!!!

I have an announcement I have been ITCHING to make for about two months:
It's official - we have chosen a show. We have just finalized the agreement to do an adaptation of Mary Doria Russell's novel DREAMERS OF THE DAY!

This beautiful book is about a woman, Agnes Shanklin, who, after losing her family in the 1918 influenza epidemic, goes on the trip of a lifetime to Egypt and finds that her visit coincides with the 1921 Cairo Conference. "Arriving at the Semiramis Hotel just as the Peace Conference convenes, Agnes, with her plainspoken American opinions and a small, noisy dachshund named Rosie, enters into the company of the historic luminaries who will, in the space of a few days,...invent the nations of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan." As she says in the opening of the novel her "little story has become [our] history." And it's only through understanding her times, that we can start to get a grasp of our own.

What we're planning right now, is to adapt the novel into a one woman show. It is a story told completely from Agnes Shanklin's perspective so it's ripe for solo possibilities, but that could always change as we get into the meat of the adaptation - we'll see. We're planning to do a whole multi-media kind of thing with still and moving projections, music from the times, and hopefully some exciting, (but not too expensive) design elements to the set, costumes and props.


I have already begun work on the adaptation and there will probably be many posts of me fumbling around as I figure out how to make it work. You see, I've never done an adaptation of this nature. I'm excited (or as Little Red says "excited and scared") to jump into this challenge. I may have assistance in the adaptation and I may be throwing out questions here to get some help on specific issues that come up as I work - so as I post questions, if anyone's out there, I'd love to hear from you.

A word about Mary Doria Russell. If you have never read any of her novels - do so NOW! Hands down, she is one of the very best fiction writers out there right now. Though her books cross different genres and topics, they all share one very special trait, they are all beautifully, gracefully, movingly written. THE SPARROW, CHILDREN OF GOD, THREAD OF GRACE and DREAMERS OF THE DAY are 4 wonderful, amazing, powerful books and I am anxiously awaiting her next one. We are SO honored that Ms. Russell has given us permission to adapt her beautiful book - that she has trusted us with one of her babies. We will nurture it and care for Agnes' story as if it were our own and cannot wait to see the final product when we get it on its feet!