Or, leadership for the Follies. Same thing, really.

We had our annual meeting earlier this evening, where we elect a new production team and their proposed show for next year. After a super-close vote, I’m glad to publicly announce that Jocelyn Geddie will be Directing The Drowsy Chaperone next year for the UC Follies!

This, of course, all depends on the rights, so the show is totally subject to change. Regardless, it’s time to say hello to our new Director.

Now, you’re obviously asking yourself: “But Aidan? Does this mean you’re leaving us?”

All I can say for now is: probably (hopefully?) not.

Well, the show’s over. I probably should have posted about this sooner, but hopefully you’ll forgive me for waiting out the post-show vacation (and depression) until I did.

Before I write a post of thank-yous, as well as hint at what’s to come, check out this Garfield Minus Garfield cartoon.

Bunny slippers in love

Get it? Of course you do.

While I have your attention, I want to publicly thank EVERYONE involved with Urinetown, as well as everyone who came out to see the show (and those of you who intended to, but something came up… I guess you can be included too). Seriously, the cast was phenomenal; the crew was immensely talented and dedicated; and my fellow Production Team peoples… well… you know.

You might be curious what the future holds for the UC Follies. To be honest, so do I. We didn’t sell enough tickets to cover our expenses, so we have a fundraiser (or ten) coming up that you can hopefully help us with.

And, as for what show we’re putting on next year, there’s going to be a meeting of everyone involved from this year where we’ll hear pitches from interested Directors. I’ll definitely keep you all up to speed with that info, too.

I guess that’s about it for now. If you want to get involved with the company, you can always send an email to info@ucfollies.com, and whoever is the current Director and Producer will be sure to respond. After all, we’re the only company of our kind: a student-run theatre company that blurs the line between student and amateur theatre talents. Don’t believe me? Ask the dishes!

It’s our Musical Director, Tara Litvack’s, birthday today.

Tara's birthday!

(Pardon the terrible Photoshopping.)

Happy birthday, Tara! You’re a wonderful talent, and such a pleasure to work with.

This may come as a shock to a lot of you, but… I’m afraid of apple juice.

You might be asking yourself right now: “why is Aidan Nulman, the epitome of all that is cool and manly and awesome, afraid of a substance so inocuous?”… if you are, I don’t blame you. See, it all goes back to Grade 2…

I used to drink a lot of apple juice. And, in an effort to bolster my independence, my Mom let me pack my juice for my lunchboxes. One day, when I came home from school, I didn’t drink my apple juice… and she told me to put it back in the box the next day. Okay, no big deal…

I got into the habit of reusing old juice. Which, again, isn’t too big of a deal. Until, of course, I decide not to drink my juice for a week. And then another week. Suddenly, I have two-week-old, oxidized apple juice sitting in my lunchbox… and I decide to drink it.

IT WAS VILE. And I haven’t touched the stuff since. (Cider, though, is a whole ‘nother story.)

Until tonight. Come join me, friends and folks of Urinetown, in the lobby during the intermission of tonight’s (the Wednesday night) show. The round of AJ is on me.

Tickets available at the door. 7 Hart House Circle, as usual… Don’t be late!

Josh (for the Grand Prize!), Anna, and Roel (tied for second place).

Josh’s Budapest story is absolutely brilliantly funny. And traumatizing. I’m very glad he lived to tell the tale.

A similar thing to what happened to Anna once happened to me on an airplane, so it brought back fond memories.

And Roel? I always thought those scrawls were just high school kids screwing around… Now I’ll think twice!

As you can see, there was by no means any sort of objectivity to the judging for this. If you disagree with my decision, make your case in the comments; maybe something will come out of it (though I’m not promising anything)!

Don’t forget: we have five shows this week, and then the UC Follies closes the curtain on this year’s show, and you won’t have a chance to see us until February 2010! Get your tickets soontimes.

But before I explain what it is, two quick things:

1) Opening night was fantastic. The crowd seemed to really love what Neil, Krista, Meg, Shayna, Luke, Ben, and the rest of the crew put together, and how the cast played it out. It seriously exceeded the expectations of my far-too-optimistic imagination, which is saying a lot.

2) To anybody that was at our opening night and looked through the program, I want to correct a horrendous oversight of mine. In the rush of things, I forgot to give credit where it was due to one of my roommates and close friends, Cristina Diaz-Borda, for all of her help in keeping me sane and picking up my slack (which can often be quite a bit), especially with the show. She should have been credited as “Production Assistant” as well as “Graphic Design” for her dual roles in maintaining-my-sanity and making-a-kickass-poster/logo-image. So start clapping.

And now the contest:

When I stepped out of the hall today for intermission, bladder ready-to-explode, I was greeted with a surprisingly long line at the bathroom, and it got me thinking… what was my worst bathroom experience ever?

I’ve got a pair of VIP tickets for any show in our second week (February 11-14, pending availability) for whoever tells me the funniest/weirdest/worst/awe-inspiringly-terrible — and true — bathroom experience they’ve ever had.

I guess I can also give two runner-up prizes of VIP tickets for the Wednesday show too, if you really want.

All you need to do to enter is leave your experience as a comment on this post, or even write something on your own blog and link it back here (so’s I can be notified).

And… go! I’ll email the winners on… Monday evening, I guess? And I’ll announce them here, too.

As I promised yesterday, I’ve got some news for you! Unfortunately, I don’t get to post the pictures I took, since my phone is kind of dying, but I WILL tell you about the giveaway! Or, at least, I’ll hint at it…

We have a little… installation… going on outside of Sid Smith (100 St. George) tomorrow from 10AM to 1PM. If you’re adventurous enough to brave the mystery-box, you may be rewarded with… well, it’s not a surprise anymore with a title like this blog post has.

The show opens in under 48 hours, you guys-and-gals! Do you have your tickets yet?

Technically, two days to go until opening night. Though, realistically, we’re still erring on the side of three. The show is sucking my soul — in a good way, though?

Anyway, I really wanted to have a big post, featuring a sight I saw this weekend and an announcement about a ticket giveaway… but that will have to wait until tomorrow. It’s currently 1:38 in the morning, and I’m on the radio (CIUT — 89.5 FM in the Toronto area, or listen online at CIUT.fm) doing an interview with Neil in less than 8 hours. It will be awesome, and I will be sleep-deprived, and hopefully you will tune in because you could hear some juicy gossip about the show that only a reporter could suss out of me.

In the meantime, though, I’d like to present you with… PHOTOS! Our fantastic Technical Director/Set Designer/Ultimate Handyman, Luke Sutherland, graciously spent a couple of rehearsals taking photos of what was going on. And now the photos are about a third of the way through uploading. So I’ll take a short break from writing this as I wait for them to finish so’s I can post you the link.

…

Okay. Brushed my teeth and I’m in my PJs. To see our photo album (with 169 pictures!), click on over to the Urinetown Photoset, or head over to the UC Follies Pool to contribute your own UC Follies-related photos!

And I swear — news about the giveaway and my weekend-sighting is coming tomorrow (well, technically today)… once I finish the assignment that’s due at 6! I’ll also try to figure out a way to work those photos into this blog somehow…

Aidan, the Production Ninja

Well, somewhat. A bit of press has been leaking in (more on that this weekend), but this just traipsed its way along the top of my Gmail inbox, and I thought it wise to share:

“Venice goes online to ease toilet pay pain” (via Reuters’ Oddly Enough)

Basically, it talks about the pay-to-pee situation in Venice and how tourists can now buy public-toilet-passes online. And it was posted a week and a day before we open.

Coincidence? Definitely. But an awesome one.

These past 3 years (which is as long as I’ve been at UofT), I’ve seen a lot of clubs put on a lot of events. Some work together, others work alone. But there’s not nearly enough cooperation, sharing, and just-plain-giving-back going on, in my opinion.

Myself, Neil, and the rest of the cast and crew of Urinetown decided to take a pro-active “step in the right direction” this year:

Any active member/exec of a UofT affiliated club (recognized by either UTSU or Student Affairs) is invited to join us — on the house — to celebrate Urinetown’s opening on February 5. No strings attached.

We want to thank everyone else who is giving to the UofT community without asking for anything in return!

Anyway, if you’re one of these people, all you need to do to join us is send an email to anulman (AT) gmail (DOT) com (replace what’s in the brackets with the symbol, though) with your name, what organization you’re with, and what your role is in the organization. And I will write you back to confirm.

We do have a limited amount of tickets to offer, so write soon!