Joan Didion and "The Year of Magical Thinking"

"Joan Didion's extraordinary memoir of grief, The Year Of Magical Thinking, will soon become a Broadway show."
Film Comment, January-February 2007

Caught my interest because I've heard it's a marvelous book, and also because I've had an eye on Didion for quite some time. I had it in the back of my mind that she is some sort of Christian, perhaps an Anglican? But a quick scan of the web puts that in question. She's clearly not too keen on the Left Behind series, George W., manifest destiny or fundamentalism - but that only means me and Joan (and Anne Lamott, for example) would have a lot in common, and I'm an orthodox believer (heck, I'm a proud graduate of Regent College and tickled to be on the faculty at Trinity Western U).

So I wonder: where did I come up with this idea that Joan had some sort of faith thing going on? She co-screenplayed TRUE CONFESSIONS, which fizzled as a movie despite superlative casting, but nonetheless treated faith with some understanding, I thought. Anybody help me with this?

Ron

Wanted: Stage Manager for apprentice showcase production

Wanted for the March Apprentice Show:

Volunteer Stage Manager for SINNERS AND SAINTS?, a unique set of provocative one act plays at Pacific Theatre produced by Stones Throw Productions. Some experience of stage management and the elements of lighting design needed.

The plays will run after performances of GRACE at Pacific Theatre, with an additional free performance on World Theatre Day, March 27th. The first of these plays, RIVER BOTTOM BABY, is a one woman show by PT’s playwriting apprentice. The second and third plays will showcase two of PT’s talented apprentices. All three of the plays are contemporary and will be technically very simple. The stage manager will be responsible for costuming needs, setting up a basic lighting design upon the existing lights of GRACE, very occasionally managing portions of the play or the odd rehearsal for the actors, and running the sound and lighting board during performances. There will be a separate props master and sound designer to work on those specific aspects of the production. We are looking for someone who is amicable, hard working, efficient and lots of fun!

IN A NUTSHELL
Plays: RIVER BOTTOM BABY (30 minutes) BABEL RAP (20 minutes) & CABBAGE HEAD (10 minutes)
Dates for rehearsals: Very part-time in mid-February to mid-March. Will be needed more for technical rehearsals towards the end of March.
Dates for performances: Tuesday March 27th, Friday March 30th, Saturday March 31st, & Friday April 6th, Saturday April 7th.
Responsibilites:
1. Checking in with the directors every few rehearsals for costuming needs and searching for contemporary costumes.
2. May be needed once every few rehearsals for each play to run cues with actors, or even portions of the play. This won’t be very often.
3. Designing an elementary lighting design for both plays, using the existing lights of GRACE.
4. Running the sound and lighting board during the actual productions.

Interested? Email Tina Teeninga - tina@teeninga.ca