We have two different methods of producing the Grand Guignol style blood moments in the show, depending on which character is being killed at which moment. Without trying to give away too much of the mystery, it took a little trial and error to much hilariously ghoulish laughter from the actors! Check out the video James Vasquez shot of our experiments. It’s a little gory, but a lot of fun.

Interacting with Sean and Bill, Veronica and Manny, Jason and Jessica (a theatre’s dream team) off stage, behind the scenes, sharing a common vision of providing this little theatre with the means to produce big, relevant and important works is so satisfying.

It’s my raison d’etre. In addition, it’s provided me a grand occasion to meet people in my broader San Diego community with whom I normally would not cross paths.

Wow! What I am experiencing through this fundraising process has far exceeded any expectation.

Like everyone these days, I’m a busy person with way too much on her plate. Besides being haunted by a daunting calendar, auction canvassing is time spent on activities that don’t directly increase my bottom line. Never mind that! More importantly, it compromises family time, which is primo to me. But being on this auction committee and having the opportunity to support something for which I passionately believe is just plain irresistible! I’m a sucker for a good time. That’s why I do it.

If I were tell you that this year’s Cygnet Gala to be held at The Prado in Balboa Park on Saturday April 24, 2010 will be its best yet, I would be telling the truth and nothing but.

The auction items that have been donated so far are unique, inventive, useful, and only acquired by bidding on them during the event’s silent or live auctions.

Need a new driver, putter, and bag stand? Callaway has donated them for this event. Interested in sharing an afternoon of wine tasting with Island Prime’s Chef Deborah Scott and Wine Director Maurice DiMarino and 8 of your friends? Or how about dinner for 6 guests with Sean and Bill, prepared by Sean, as Executive Chef? Ever dream about meeting The Phantom back stage in Vegas at this long running Andrew Lloyd Weber production? It could happen to you. And, of course, there are travel packages, spa services, jewelry, restaurant certificates, and in your home dinners provided by local chefs.

Now is a great time to join me, our incredible players, and other volunteers who are making this year’s event one that will be irresistible to everyone!

If you’d like to donate your time or an auction item, please email me at Lab4Us@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you See you at the Cabaret!

To start the season, we will revisit the works of Alan Ayckbourn, author of our immensely popular production of Communicating Doors. This time instead of traveling through time, we will visit the same time as seen in three different rooms, all of which get their own play! The Norman Conquests – which includes Table Manners, Round and Round the Garden and Living Together – revolve around Norman a charming library assistant, and the women in his life. Each play stands on its own, however, the fun is in seeing the entire trilogy as each play reveals unique secrets, surprising answers and loads of laughs. Directed by Artistic Director Sean Murray and Francis Gercke, The Norman Conquests will run in rep with the same six actors from July 28th through November 2nd, 2010.

For the holiday season, we are very happy to announce our fifth annual production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, adapted by Joe Landry. Each year, Cygnet audiences delight in this wintertime tradition. Tom Andrew will return with his San Diego Critics Circle Award winning performance as George Bailey, and the brilliant Scott Paulson will once again infuse the evening with his live, old-fashioned Foley sound effects ‘orchestra’. For Cygnet, the holidays wouldn’t be the holidays without the fictitious “WCYG Theatre of the Air” and the classic Frank Capra story in a “live” 1940’s radio broadcast filled with music and the beloved characters of Bedford Falls. It’s a Wonderful Life runs November 26th through December 31st, 2010.

We are incredibly honored and excited to begin 2011 with the World Premiere of The Commons by Stephen Metcalfe (author of the screenplay Jacknife, based on his off-Broadway play Strange Snow). Our staged reading of this powerful work, which focuses on a retired school teacher, his wife and the threatening of their beloved home, received overwhelming response and will now receive its premiere production with the same cast. Jim Winker and Associate Artistic Director Francis Gercke headline this moving, electrifying production. The Commons will play January 20th through February 20th, 2011.

In the Spring, we invite you into the Kit Kat Club as we explore the world of Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret! Set in the tumultuous city of Berlin, just before Hitler’s rise to power, and based on Christopher Isherwood’s “Berlin Stories”, Cabaret introduces the interlocking stories of cabaret singer, Sally Bowles; the American writer, Cliff who takes her in and the other local denizens of a quickly changing society. Sean Murray directs the dark, daring and provocative musical that won 8 Tony Awards and includes the musical numbers Willkommen, Mein Herr and Maybe This Time?. Production dates for Cabaret are March 17th through May 15th, 2011.

We will close our season at Cygnet with the Pulitzer Prize winning Our Town by Thornton Wilder. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Our Town stunned its audience when it was first presented for its audacious, almost avant garde simplicity. Director Sean Murray, picks up from there and brings a contemporary sensibility to the staging of one of the most beautiful and moving plays ever written. Playwright Thornton Wilder (The Matchmaker) explores the essence of life and living by focusing both on the minutia of daily life’s routines and necessities as well as the larger place mankind holds on the cosmic plane of our universe. The always surprising Our Town, with its sparse, lofty stage and 23-member cast promises to take us on an exploration of our humanity. Performances for Our Town will run June 9 through July 10, 2011.

We certainly hope you will join us for our eighth go-around and look forward to seeing you at the Old Town Theatre.

When I was a young bride and not very kitchen adept (I put butter in the pan to fry bacon!!! and my first jello salad was more like jello soup), this is the first cake I ever made. It turns out I could bake!! This cake immediately became our family ‘Birthday Cake’ tradition, affectionately known as ‘Aunt Vicki’s Chocolate Cake.’ WARNING – When I made it for my youngest son’s 15th birthday, I mistakenly left out the baking soda. Not recommended!! It was tasty but very chewy, more like a giant Oreo cookie than a cake.

• • 2/3 cup soft butter (the flavor’s in the fat, as my chef friend tells me)
• • 1 3/4 cups sugar (apologies to my many diabetic friends)
• • 2 eggs (sans shells, of course)
• • 1tsp. vanilla extract (not the fake stuff)
• • 2 1/2 one ounce squares unsweetened chocolate, melted (in double boiler, never melt chocolate over direct heat)
• • 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (my grandmother never made cakes with any other flour)
• • 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda (Don’t forget this one)
• • 1/2 tsp. salt
• • 1 1/4 cups ice water (not sure why it has to be so cold but I’ve never tried it otherwise)

Cream together first 4 ingredients until fluffy. (Beat 5 minutes at high speed)
Blend in cooled chocolate.
Separately sift together cake flour, soda and salt;
Add to creamed mixture, alternating with ice water, beginning and ending with flour mixture – beat after each addition.
Bake in 2 greased and floured 9″ round pans at 350 degrees F (Don’t forget to preheat) for 35 minutes. It also works for cupcakes and loaf cake but the round layer is prettiest.
Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans. When cake is cool to touch – FROST!

This is the frosting my mother taught me to make and at the end it’s a little by look and feel (you know how mothers cook).

• • 3 1/2 one ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
• • 3 cups sifted confectioners sugar
• • 4 1/2 tbsp. hot water
• • 1 egg
• • 1/2 cup soft butter
• • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Melt Chocolate. Blend in sugar and water. Beat in egg, then butter and vanilla until of spreading consistency. If it’s too thin, place bowl in ice water and continue to beat. Or add a tiny bit more sugar.

Don’t forget to let the little ones (or the big ones) lick the bowl and spoons before washing.

Sean Murray’s Holiday Turkey Cranberry Chipotle Chili

This is my red and green Holiday Chili. The green comes from the tomatillos in the sauce (although it isn’t really all that green!) and the red from the fresh cranberries floating on the top of the chili. Make it as spicy as you desire. It’s great with cornbread.

• • 2 canned whole chipotle chilies in adobo (I do this to taste, I only use a half  the chilis in the can and the sauce for the chili. 2 cans can be pretty spicy, be cautious at the start, you can always add more to taste later.)
• • 2 lbs. fresh tomatillos or three 18-oz. cans whole tomatillos-drained (I found the canned tomatillos in a Mexican market, and they are so easy!!)
• • 2 large onions, chopped
• • 8 garlic cloves
• • 3 tbls. vegetable oil
• • 2 tbls. ground cumin
• • 4 lbs. ground turkey
• • 2 cups chicken broth
• • 1 bay leaf ( I use three because I like the flavor.)
• • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled
• • 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• • 2 4-oz. cans mild green chilies, drained and chopped
• • 1 tbls. corn meal (This thickens the chili and I add about 2 more tablespoons if I want it thicker, personal taste)
• • 1 19-oz. can (about 2 cups) white beans, rinsed and drained
• • 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• • 1-2 packaged fresh cranberries
• • sour cream and fresh chopped cilantro and onions as an accompaniment if desired

Puree the canned chipotle chilies in a blender. Reserve. Blanch the tomatillos in boiling water for 1-3 minutes or open the cans. Place the tomatillos in the blender and puree. Reserve the tomatillo puree.

In a large heavy kettle cook the onions and 5 of the garlic cloves, minced, in the oil over moderate heat, stirring, until the onions are softened, add the cumin, and cook the mixture, stirring, for 30 seconds.

Add the turkey and cook the mixture, stirring and breaking up the lumps, until the turkey is no longer pink.

Add the reserved chipotle puree, the reserved tomatillo puree, the broth, the bay leaf, the oregano, and the salt and simmer the mixture, uncovered, adding more water if  necessary to keep the turkey barely covered, for 1 hour.

Stir in the bell pepper, the canned green chilies, and the cornmeal and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

Stir in the white beans, the cilantro, the remaining 2 garlic cloves, minced, and salt to taste. Simmer the chili for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the beans are heated through, and discard the bay leaf.

Add the cranberries and after they begin to wilt or pop serve with a dab of sour cream and a pinch of fresh cilantro and sprinkle of chopped onion.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

1.

As most theatre buffs will tell you, the Globe Theatre in London has long-been considered one of the “most magnificent” theatres the city has every seen.  Shakespeare’s legendary theatre was built in the 16^th century by carpenter Peter Smith and his workers, and most arts-lovers of the day felt that no other theatre would ever match its accomplishments or stature.  Nor did many dare try.  The Swan Theatre became the Globe’s one major rival, continually striving to reach new heights in theatrical achievements, despite its later eminence.  Artistic Director Sean Murray was inspired by this driven-and-able historical theatre, and has held in the highest regard Craig Noel, the founding director of San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre.   As cygnet is the name for a baby swan, Sean liked the tongue-and-cheek title for his theatre.   Cygnet Theatre may have begun as a fledgling playhouse in a strip-mall, but we’ve got some big ambitions and some real cheek.

2. There’s a swan in every Cygnet set.

We at Cygnet love our namesake.  For this reason, every Cygnet set pays tribute with a swan hidden (and sometimes not so hidden) within the scenery.  The very first Cygnet show – Hedwig and the Angry Inch – included a giant paper mache swan head made entirely of paper plates which guarded the band’s drummer.  Copenhagen’s swan was displayed on the multiple chalk-boards. Set designer, Sean Fanning hand-drew a swan, along with notes, phone numbers and doodles on the Mauritius set’s bulletin board.  Escanaba in da’ Moonlight featured crates with a company logo swan stamped on their sides and A Little Night Music continued the tradition with a swan carved into Frederick’s elaborate bed.   Although they’re sometimes challenging to spot, the Cygnet swan will make its appearance in each and every season’s show.  Just another reason to enjoy a look around your next Cygnet set.

3. There’s a Ghost in the House.

Sure we’re theatre people and drawn to the dramatic, but we can’t deny the feeling that we’re not alone in here.  Our move to Old Town not only provided us some new digs, it seems that it came with a complimentary company member.  Nothing to worry about, of course.  The Old Town ghost – or Charlie, as he’s been named – seems to appreciate the entertainment.  We assume it’s why he’s stuck around and made his presence known to other theatre companies who made their home at the Old Town Theatre before us.  But he also seems to love a practical joke or two.  While we’ve become accustomed to his slamming doors and bumps in the night, we do wish he’d return the various props and costume pieces that have gone missing from our latest Cygnet productions.

The artist formerly known as Thom with Marci Anne Wuebben in A Little Night Music

4. Sean Murray isn’t His Real Name.

Artistic Director Sean Murray isn’t who he says he is.  His real name is Thomas Murray, but you tell that to Equity.   In order to get his Equity card, he had to choose a name that wasn’t already in their system, and his middle name seemed to be the next best choice.  Plus, Mama Murray was all for it.  When he asked her what she thought his Equity name ought to be, she told him that although he was a fifth generation “Thomas Murray”, if she’d had her druthers, his name would have been Sean anyway.  Of course, we love him as “Sean” as much as we’d love him as “Thom” but we DO wonder what else he’s not telling us.

5. Cygnet Theatre’s Wonderful Life Includes Some Real Radio Royalty.

Lovers of Cygnet Theatre’s It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, have come to recognize actor Jonathan Dunn-Rankin as cantankerous, old “Mr. Potter.”   But listen closely and you’ll hear the golden pipes of real radio royalty in his between-scene radio announcements.

Jonathan Dunn-Rankin in It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play

At only 17 years old, Jonathan began working in radio in 1940s Florida.  He grew up to become one of the recognized, big-voiced 40s radio announcers of the era.  That broadcast history eventually brought Jonathan to San Diego where he spent many years as KFMB’s principle television newscaster. Artistic Director Sean Murray remembers watching him on Channel 8 regularly, never realizing they would one day work together.  Now Jonathan has become part of Cygnet’s annual holiday tradition.  This will be his third year of bringing his life experience to the stage.  As the station chimes play and he opens the show into the radio mike, don’t be surprised if you feel as though you’ve slipped back in time.

Sean’s Pancake Recipe
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup Ground Flax Seed (optional)
1/2 cup Oat Bran (optional)
Sprinkle of Wheat Germ (optional)
2 tsp. Baking Powder
2 Tbs. Sugar (or Splenda)
1/4 Tsp. Salt
Dash of Cinnamon

1 Large Egg
1 Tbs. Melted Butter
Vanilla to taste
1 Cup Milk (more or less to create the batter consistency you prefer)
Chopped Walnuts
Fresh Blueberries

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the Flax and Oat Bran to taste. I eye it.

Add the egg, vanilla, and milk. For thinner pancakes go with a thinner batter (more milk), for thicker pancakes, a thicker batter (slightly less milk) Stir the liquids into the drys until the batter looks like you like it. Add the melted butter. Mix well.

Add the walnuts and blueberries.

Let it sit for a few minutes while the griddle gets hot.

Spray the griddle with Pam or something like that. You don’t want too much butter on the griddle.
Spoon the batter onto the griddle. When the edges begin to look cooked and small bubbles begin to form in the middle of the pancake, flip it over and let it finish cooking. Don’t let it burn!!

Add butter, of course and real maple syrup.
and above all, enjoy.

Veronica Murphy and Tom Andrew. Photo by Randy Rovang

Our theatre is presenting a 1940’s radio version of the movie, It’s A Wonderful Life. We all know the movie. I remember the first time I saw the movie. In the olden days, before you could buy the video or dvd or see a movie on television, one of the ways to see an old classic was to catch it at a movie theatre that showed revivals. In San Diego when I was a kid, this theatre was the Ken Cinema in Kensington.

I was a freshman at San Diego State University at the time, and my best friend, Russell and I decided to go see It’s A Wonderful Life at Christmas time. Neither of us had actually heard of it before, believe it or not. This was well before the Wonderful Life TV blitz when you could not turn on the TV without seeing it on every channel. So, for me and Russell, this was a new movie.

Here’s what I remember: being so totally swept up in the film and all of those beautiful citizens of Bedford Falls that I actually forgot I was at a theatre watching a movie. The people around me disappeared. Russell disappeared. My popcorn disappeared. We had no idea that there was going to be an angel or the redemption of the average man. The existential journey of George Bailey took me totally by surprise. By the time the friends came pouring in at the end of the movie, I was as wrecked as I had ever been. Total tears. No, not tears. Sobs. Aching, side holding sobbing. The theatre’s house lights came up and I was jolted back to my own reality: I was not there in the Bailey living room celebrating life and family, but sitting in one of the Ken’s then-famously uncomfortable seats, sobbing and gulping and blinking tears out my dazed eyes. Okay, I was eighteen. I hadn’t had a lot of experiences yet. It’s kind of sweet in retrospect.

I turned around realizing where I was, and Russell, who was sitting next to me was far worse than me! Whereas I had started to come back to earth, he was inconsolable. He couldn’t get up. He was crying to hard, that we had to wait until the theatre emptied before we could leave. Only now, we are laughing through our crying because we begin to realize that it was, after all, just a movie, you know?

I STILL cry at that movie. The tears seem to come at different things as I get older and life’s journey becomes more clear, if it ever actually does become clear. I’ll let you know when I get closer towards the curtain call.

In the meantime, the story stirs up thoughts about life choices, career paths, how the smallest connection can be a turning point without your even knowing it. It raises questions about whether we’re all following a predestined path, or wandering alone blindly forward. Are all of those small turning points lined up for us in advance, or do we alter the predestined path every time we make a choice between two things? Are there infinite predetermined life paths, each completely valid? Or ultimately one life journey with all of our “choices” already made for us?

As long as we recognize the value of each person in our life and their contribution to shaping what we are, we also have to recognize our power over other people’s lives and how our contacts, no matter how small, can change their lives too. All of this is karmic, isn’t it? It’s A Wonderful Life celebrates how interconnected we are all, and that we are truly not alone in this world. We are surrounded by what we create, we ARE what we create, so create something you can be proud of!

I didn’t mean to get so… blah blah blah with this. I was going to write about working on the story as a play and working with wonderful actors to get all of these feelings to happen live on stage. But it brings out the romantic in me.

I love to watch the actors take the journey every time they do it. I never tire of the show. It starts as such a sweet show with its soda fountains, snow sledding, and dreamers. The darker questions in the story seems to come up from behind us while we’re not looking and without realizing it we are suddenly addressing the horrifying notion of non-existence: To be a complete void. No mother. No family. No identity. Nothing.

Tom Andrew, who has played George since our first production, takes this journey with his whole body and soul every night! I admire him so much for the depth of emotion that he shares in telling George Bailey’s story. And all of the other actors in the company, Jonathan Dun-Rankin, Veronica Murphy, Tim West, David McBean, Melissa Fernandes and Amanda Sitton bring each and every one of these rich characters to life as if they were a company of thirty. With the live sound effects provided by Scott Paulson and musical direction and accompaniment by Amy Dalton, this show has become very special to us and to our audience.

It’s A Wonderful Life is such a beautiful story to touch base with every year. It’s a great reminder for us to keep in mind that every tiny choice we make or contact we have with another human has giant consequences for us all. We are all interconnected. It is a wonderful life.

Kids enjoying Storytelling on the Green

“Ladies and Gentleman! Boys and Girls! Children of all ages! Gather ’round the flag pole in the Old Town Park and enjoy a 15 Minute performance of Living Shakespeare!”

Last Tuesday morning I snuck away from my usual Box Office abode and skipped over to the green in the middle of Old Town Park to watch our education departments regular performance of a 15 Minute Shakespeare. Here I was treated to a two-man rendition of that lamentable comedy, Pyramus and Thisby, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Dressed in their authentic 1850’s garb, Actors Extraordinaire, Mr. Brian Mackey and Mr. Daren Scott gathered a group of touring 1^st graders for a performance. A great relief to their exhausted teachers aids. Throughout the piece Brian and Daren hand picked 3 children to play the rolls of Lion, Wall and Moonshine, to the delight of their classmates.

Since birth, the adorable children of Generation Z have been inundated with mediated performance through movies, television and the internet.  The meaning of “live” performance has been reduced to a clip on YouTube, shot in one take.  For these children, “actors” live on the other side of a plasma screen and remain inaccessible and impersonal.  But not this time…

The children were fascinated, as if it were nothing they’d ever seen before.  Their eyes remained fixed on Brian and Daren’s hilarious range of characters, voices and gestures, not to mention their giggling classmates that had been chosen by the actors to take the stage… or in this case grass.

These actors weren’t walled off by a pixelated screen.  Instead of being separated from their entertainment the children were in the thick of it, interacting with the characters and becoming a part of the story as it unfolded before their young eyes. One little girl even captured the memory by recording the entire piece on her cell phone. Oh the irony!

“We are the Cygnet Players!  We need an audience and we need a cast! Gather ’round one and all!”

Jack Missett in front of Nebraska cornfield

On the road at 5 a.m., headed west from the bottom left corner of Iowa across the Missouri River on highway 34, which runs through the heart of the “Prairie Capital City,” Lincoln, the setting for Tracy Letts’ play Man from Nebraska (Oct. 3- Nov. 1, The Old Town Theatre).  When director Fran Gercke heard my wife and I would be visiting her Iowa relatives, he jumped at my offer to do a recon-and-report from Lincoln and blog about it.  So, at 5:42 a.m., I cross the Mizzou at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, on a tiny 2-lane toll bridge ($1.25 each way) – the bridge used to be privately owned by a family who built the bridge and kept all the tolls, but now the city owns it and I believe the price has gone up since my last visit.  A sign reads “NEBRASKA- THE GOOD LIFE.”

Lincoln isn’t just the state capital, it’s also the home to the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football team – “Go Big Red!”  Corn figures in this story because there’s no escaping it…15 million beautiful acres producing more than a billion bushels of corn (most of it feeder corn for livestock, not sweet corn for our plates).  The gentle hills surrounding Lincoln are vast cornfields, “as high as an elephant’s eye.”  This is America’s farmland – corn, soybeans, sorghum (aka milo) and winter wheat. The most important subject other than the football team is the weather.

Highway 34 turns into O Street as I enter Lincoln at 6:53, searching in vain for a Starbucks.  It’s several blocks and several morning commuters honking their horns at me before I finally find one – Lincoln has lots of coffee shops, but not many Starbucks.  Help me, Toto, we’re not in California anymore.  But one thing Lincoln has plenty of is churches.  The population is about 250,000, and there are 229 churches, or about one church for every 1,000 people.  Man From Nebraska is the story of an ordinary guy who wakes up one morning and discovers he doesn’t believe in God anymore.  And he goes from being a regular church-going, insurance salesman, Baptist family man to a lost soul experiencing a “crisis of faith” in Lincoln.

My friend Carol and I meet up about 8:30.  She’s a U of N grad, lived all her adult life in Lincoln, and accepts my description of Lincolnites as “the plain people of the Plains” with bemusement.  Carol gives me a tour of the sights:  the towering State Capitol building, known to locals as the ‘Penis of the Prairie’ – hey, they said it, not me; the massive Memorial Stadium with it’s motto “Not the victory but the action, not the goal but the game, in the deed the glory” – pretty heady stuff for a football game; the beautiful Sunken Gardens and lovely neighborhoods filled with handsome homes.  Most of the cars I see are American made, and one car dealer has a sign out front reading “Here to Stay!” All in all, Lincoln seems more of a college town than the seat of state government, perhaps due to the fact that Nebraska is the only state in the union to have a non-partisan, unicameral  legislature (a single chamber representative body – why waste money taking two votes on everything).

More Corn

Nebraska is a long state.  With a girlfriend in Iowa and a family in Wyoming, I know – I’ve driven it many times, even got thrown in jail once in Hershey for speeding, but that’s another story.  The state is also divided into north and south Nebraska by the Platt River (remember the toll bridge at Plattsmouth) and Omaha used to be the capital, and Lincoln used to be a town called Lancaster.  Back in Civil War days, people north of the Platt were rooting for the Yankees, and those south of the river – including Lancaster/Lincoln – were Confederate sympathizers…and except for the people in Omaha, everybody wanted to move the state capital out of Omaha to some place more in the middle of the state.  So, in what was seen as a trick vote, the folks in Omaha said, “We’ll move the state capital to Lancaster, but we want to change the name of the town to honor our recently assassinated hero of the Union cause, President Lincoln,” figuring the vote would lose.  But, nope, it passed, they changed the name and moved the capital.  Which may or may not explain why Lincoln is even today a very Caucasian city – 89.3% white, 3.6% Latino, 3.1% Asian , 3% African-American and the rest Native American and Pacific Islander or “other.”  However, in 2008, while the state of Nebraska went for McCain, Lancaster County and the City of Lincoln went for Obama.

A thunderstorm breaks at 9:45, and I say goodbye to Carol, buy a bunch of “Go Big Red” T-shirts for my fellow cast members and head back to Iowa, pausing only to photograph a barn with an American flag, and stopping in Plattsmouth for a raspberry turnover – they were all out of apple.  Sadly, I didn’t make it to the Johnny Carson Theatre, the black box performance space at the University named for the Tonight show star who generously donated $11 million to his alma mater (BA in Radio/Speech, minor in physics). The University also renamed The Department of Theatre Arts the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film.  Other famous people from Lincoln include Oscar winning actress Hilary Swank, Vice President Dick Cheney (who graduated from the same high school in Casper, Wyoming, as I did) and Charles Starkweather, mass murderer, who took along his 14 year-old girlfriend Carol Fugate as he killed 11 people, 3 of them in Lincoln.  No one was injured during the research and writing of this blog.  By lunchtime I’m back in Iowa, the sun comes out and we all go to the County Fair – parking and admission are free.