Food for thought!by catherine 
Yesterday, we held a huge welcome reception for our 2008 company, all our actors, designers, costume stitches, board of directors, staff, our honorary volunteer Mary Malcolm along with the Brimm family who provide our food & beverage services at Shakespeare’s Kitchen, all attended. A varied group of people coming together to create a fabulous event for our region. It was a wonderful gathering, for many it was the first time they had seen Lake Tahoe, for others it was a long time since they had been to our destination and for some it was a reminder of how lucky we are to live and work in such a stunning location. At the beginning of the lunch, that was provided courtesy of our friends at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe at the spectacular lakeside restaurant Lone Eagle Grille, the three directors – myself, Jan Powell and Michael Walling – made opening speeches about our thoughts on the start of our 2008 season. I spoke about the Festival “family”, which yesterday represented close to 100 people, and how important each member of that family is in contributing to the overall experience for the summer. Jan spoke about the melding of the company, faces from all over the region, the most culturally diverse company we have brought together in age, geography, ethnicity and professional background. Jan also talked about the theatre we will work together to create that will be fresh, athletic, vibrant, and passionate, wrapping the audience in the action as it happens on and around the stage. Then Michael said “Okay we’ve talked about what we’re going to do, now let’s talk about why this is important to our audience”. “Many people say the attention span of the general public is shorter, much of that idea can probably be attributed to how the media and technological environment we live in tells us that everything we do should be fast. We should download information faster, eat fast food, work faster, travel from one place to another faster. Yet, all of that doesn’t make us feel good and doesn’t nourish us physically or mentally.” Food is a good analogy for this statement; fast food we know isn’t good for us it doesn’t sustain us nutritionally and it doesn’t allow us to spend any time with our family or friends when we eat it. Yet when we take the time – like we did yesterday – to get together as a group of friends or as a “family” and take the time to enjoy wholesome food with fresh local ingredients the experience is quite different, it makes you feel good. And in a way, making a trip to the Festival is the same. People take the time to come to our beautiful venue on the shores of the water, they arrive at the theatre two hours before the performance starts to take the time to enjoy wholesome food that has been prepared with care by our staff at Shakespeare’s Kitchen or that they brought with them, they sit with their friends and admire the view and chat about their lives and enjoy the beautiful sunset and enjoy the majesty of our surroundings. Then the performance begins. We take the time, about five weeks, to create theatre that will transport you to another world that will nourish your soul – take you away from mass media, the TV, the laptop computer and your cell phones. Providing a wonderfully enriching, enjoyable night of food, fun, family, friends and entertainment in a beautiful setting. Sounds like the perfect summertime escape to me…cheers! 2 Comments...
Post my comment
|
the inside story
|
© 2008 Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival | (800) 74-SHOWS
The Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival is a 501 C (3) non-profit organization established for the cultural benefit and enjoyment of all residents and visitors to our region. We strive to plan, produce and advocate the finest cultural events at Lake Tahoe while educating future generations on the importance of including theatre, music and art in their everyday lives.
email us
Posted by john anderson | Wednesday, June 11, 2008 5:33pm (PST)
Very well done. This should create a lot of excitement and interest. We are definitely looking forward to it!!
Posted by Beth Cross | Saturday, June 14, 2008 1:24am (PST)
I so enjoy reading these blogs! They are part of my 'count down' to coming out this summer to see the plays. We are so looking forward to the experience, which we know from previous visits, will just be fantastic!
The amazingly beautiful setting,professional and enthralling acting, the wonderful family atmosphere and the delicious food provides the perfect evening in our holiday! Can't wait!!