Got a lot of rejection letters this week. It’s hard to get too upset by them when you’re round-the-clock-busy, but I’m not going to lie… Some of them didn’t feel so great. But in the long run, there are always more opportunities, and for many of these places that I got turned down from, there is always next year. It’s comforting to know that I have a year of practice before I give it another shot. I recently discovered that how much I had grown as a writer in a surprising way… Well, it surprised me anyway…. About a week and a half ago we read The Fantasy Club our loud with the full cast for the first time. I hadn’t read it since I edited it after the last staged reading back in June of 2012. And some of the scenes were pretty rough…

I took a few days, rewrote two entire scenes in Act I, and re-wrote the last 30 pages almost from scratch. I am a better writer now, and it showed. My director and actors were so excited to hear/read the new pages, and I was kind of amazed at my own growth…

So, getting back to all of those rejections… It’s too bad that I won’t be joining the line-up this year. I wish that I was, but, there is always next year! And I have my eyes and ears open to learn the many things I need to learn to get even better at this. So what I’m saying is, watch out… You ain’t seen nothing yet.

Last night my terrific cast (Siobhan Doherty, Tavis Kammet, Claire Rice, Rob Dario) read the updated script of The Fantasy Club! What a blast. The new draft is so good guys, I am extremely proud of my script, and I am so happy with my cast and crew. This show is going to be fantastic!

SO! If you haven’t donated yet, do! You’ll get to be a part of this great show, and it’ll make you feel oh so good. Here’s the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/allterraintheater/the-fantasy-club-by-rachel-bublitz.

On that subject, huge thank you to the fabulous Marissa Skudlarek for her donation! We couldn’t do it without you…

No, we seriously cannot do it without you guys… Only $1,723 to go! And as we raise more money, we will release more funny… That’s right, more videos and pictures to make you crack up all over the place. So throw us a bone… And tell your friends to do the same! #thefantasyclub!

Thanks!

It’s getting real, guys. With only 10 days to go, we have $1,808 to go, and that’s just our base goal. We could use some help, so please share our project with your friends! They’ll thank you, because everyone loves to laugh! And be sure to tell them soon, because there are only 18 more $50 reward packages! Our most popular reward deal, you get thanked online and in our program, two priority tickets to the show, and strawberries and chocolate to enjoy at the show. Did you know that for only $25 more we’ll throw in underwear and if we reach our $10,000 stretch goal everyone at that level will get a sexy tweet from Barb herself? Well, now you do!

Big thank you to the wonderful Heather Kellogg for donating yesterday!

Forgot the link already? No problem, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/allterraintheater/the-fantasy-club-by-rachel-bublitz!

Thank you!

We have reached the ½ mark in our kickstarter campaign!! We are 52% of the way there, and I have some new wonderful people to thank!

Thank you’s and cyber kisses for:

Mary Watkins

Nancy C. Frank

Randy Bublitz

Jilda L. Roe

Clay Woolam

and

June Wiley

And as promised, here’s brand new picture to lighten up your gloomy Monday:

Here’s our director, Colin Johnson, myself, and Siobhan Doherty on the set filming our kickstarter video. Have you seen it yet? What are you waiting for??? Watch it now!

Photos courtesy Rob Reeves.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/allterraintheater/the-fantasy-club-by-rachel-bublitz

San Francisco Theatre Pub is back doing that amazing thing they do at Cafe Royale, and tonight they present a ONE NIGHT ONLY staged reading of THE DEAD by James Joyce. Jeremy Cole has a new translation of the work, and tonight is the only night you can see it! I’d recommend getting there early, it’s going to be full tonight! Here’s a bit more about tonight’s show from the facebook event page:

“Every year on June 16th, fans of James Joyce celebrate “Bloomsday” – the day upon which the novel Ulysses takes place. But what is to be done on the day after?

Join us on Monday, June 17th, for San Francisco Theater Pub’s staged reading of Joyce’s famous short story, “The Dead.”

Performed Reader’s Theater style, this adaptation of The Dead, by our very own Jeremy Cole, ran for six seasons at Hunger Artists Ensemble Theater in Denver, CO.

The year is 1904. It is a snowy winter’s night in the city of Dublin. Gretta and Gabriel Conroy are among the guests at the Morkan Sisters’ annual dinner on the Feast of the Epiphany and the last day of Christmas. An evening of laughter, music and dance ends in introspection and Gabriel has an epiphany of his own.

The Theater Pub cast features: Melissa Clason, Siobhan Doherty, Jean Forsman, Cameron Galloway, Heather Kellogg, William Leschber, Theresa Miller, Rhio Ossola, Vince Faso, and Sara Breindel on the harp.

Admission is, as always, FREE with a suggested donation, and of course, we’ll have Hide Away Blues BBQ there so arrive hungry and get there early to ensure a seat!”

Be there or be square!

Today is both Bloomsday and Father’s Day! Which is fitting because my dad love’s James Joyce.

I just went on a walk with my daughter and husband, she’s learning to ride her bicycle without training wheels. It’s hard for her because she has to practice, and she wants to be good instantly at everything. I watch as my husband thoughtfully argued against her 5-year-old logic, trying to get back up and try again after she had fallen… In the end, he failed. But I’m not sure I would have put in so much effort. I am grateful that there are two of us, and for the things that he makes up for which I lack.

It got me thinking about my dad, and the things that I can thank him for… He used to read Just So Stories to me as bed time stories, my favorite was “The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo.” I asked for it almost every night. My dad also bought me King Lear when I was in sixth grade, and he talked me through all the parts I was confused by. He also bought me Grendel by John Gardner, In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan, Moby Dick, and many other books and plays over the years. I never could read Moby Dick, but Grendel, and In Watermelon Sugar are two of my all time favorite books. He was also one of the first people I told when I started writing The Fantasy Club, and he was the third person I sent it to to read. He’s one of my biggest fans, and makes me feel like there’s nothing else that I should be doing.

I hope both the dads in my life have a great day today, I’m glad you are in my life.

Folks we are 44% funded! A big thank you to the folks who donated yesterday:

Kat Engh

Kirk Shimano

Charley Lerrigo

Dorothy

We still have over $2,000 to raise, please consider chipping in if you haven’t already!

Excited for this week’s podcast? Well, wait no longer friends! Here is Meet Smart by Brett Steven Abelman.

For details on all the fabulous people that helped to make this podcast happen go to the check out the 31 Plays in 31 Days Blog.

Enjoy!

A couple of folks have asked me about money, and why we need it, and where it’s going. To that I say, excellent question! I asked the artistic director of All Terrain Theater and director of The Fantasy Club, Tracy Held Potter, and this is what she told me:

• Rehearsal & Performance Space Rental: $1800
• Actor Stipends: $1300
• Crew Stipends: $1500
• Insurance: $400

“This is the basic fees that we’re trying to cover through Kickstarter, this is obviously more than $4,000, but we expect ticket sales to cover some of this. Also, Kickstarter itself has fees and providing rewards costs some money, proportional to our campaign’s success. For this reason, it would be great to raise at least $6,000, and anything over that helps us fund our next two shows.”

As of right now (10:16am in the morning of Friday, June 14th) we are 39% of the way to our base goal of $4,000! We have 14 days to go and need all the help we can get. If you haven’t given already, I do hope that you will consider doing so, you can donate as little as $1, and every $1 helps!

Sharing also helps, so after your fit of laughter subsides, share our project with your friends, if you’re tweeting use the hashtag #thefantasyclub!

Here’s the link again:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/allterraintheater/the-fantasy-club-by-rachel-bublitz

THANK YOU!

We have some more all-stars joining the list of people donating to our kickstarter campaign! We are grateful to have your support, and we thank you for your generosity!

John Held

Anna and David Gamboa with A7d Creative Group)

Melissa Keith

Robin D. Silver

Colleen Ye

Daniel Holloway

Carol Lashof

Theresa Donahoe

Hannah Krawczyk

Madeline Puccioni

Ramya Vijayan

And

Carol Hochberg

Thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts!

Oh, and because you’ve been so generous, here are some more hilarious/awesome pictures stills from shooting our hilarious/awesome kickstarter video! If you are one of the few people who haven’t seen the video, you should fix that now… Be sure you’re not eating anything, or handling heavy machinery while watching though… We’re not responsible for any accidents that occur during your viewing of the video.

Our director Colin Johnson showing Siobhan Doherty how exactly “sexy on a wall” should look.

Colin setting up a shot of me!

*Both photos courtesy Rob Reeves

Here’s the link one more time, just in case you want to be thanked on my website too…

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/allterraintheater/the-fantasy-club-by-rachel-bublitz