All kinds of new and exciting things!

Lots of updates in this post!
First of all, Lucas and I had a meeting with Jeremiah Massengale on Monday. He, as part of his graphic design business, Forwarding Design, will be designing our show poster for The Shaking Tree.
Meeting with a designer was a completely new, but really positive experience. We talked a bit about how the theatre came into existence. He asked about the play and some of the themes in it that we wanted to convey with the poster.
We talked a lot about dealing with change, with having hope,  the Appalachian culture and about family. We talked about color and style. Honestly, I'm extremely excited to see the drafts he creates for us! By the time we walked away from the meeting, I felt confident that Jeremiah probably knew what we wanted, graphically, even better than we did, and after hearing a few questions and suggestions of his, I really can't wait to see the designs. It's going to be difficult waiting until his deadline to see what he's working on.
We also decided to go ahead and name the theatre! We ended up going with a name that we've actually been talking about for quite a while, but just hadn't settled on. So we are now, finally, The Wildwood Theatre! And to go with our shiny, new name, I have been speaking to a local artist about designing a shiny, new logo for us! He is supposed to be getting me a draft in time for us to pass it along to Jeremiah for inclusion on our show poster, so I'm also very excited about that.
But I have created a facebook page for us, so there is one more step toward getting our name out. So far, I've been really pleased with the response we've gotten from the community on both the Wildwood Theatre page and our event that I created for the show.
Also, and I think this is the last thing I have to say about publicity, is that I've contacted a local printing business about printing our programs and posters for us! I really love that we are able to use so many local resources. Part of our mission is that we want to draw from local talent as much as possible, and I'm really glad that this isn't limited to just the actors or the crew, but to really, every aspect of the show. I just feel incredibly lucky that we have so many talented artists and businesspeople around town that are so willing to help our program!

Another (non-publicity related) step we've taken forward is that we have had our first reading of the show as a cast! We did have one issue come up. Unfortunately, the actor originally cast as Jubal was unable to accept the role. However, I was able to re-cast the role in time for our new Jubal to join in the reading. The actor who is now playing Jubal, Zack White, is someone I have had the pleasure of working with and watching perform several times before, so I'm confident that he is going to be excellent in the role.
The cast met at A Common Ground Coffee Shop to do our reading, and I think it went really well.

Adrienne Liford, reading Eve

The whole group

David Sweet, our Richard, and his birthday drink

More of the cast

Kelsey Sutherland, our ASM

Erica Leach, reading Sarah

Randall Partin and Jennifer Tracey, reading Daniel and Mary

Myself, the director

Lucas Waters, our playwright

David Sweet as Richard and Zack White as Jubal

The Shaking Tree Cast

After seeing my cast together and hearing them read the script, I'm really looking forward to beginning blocking. I finished the rehearsal schedule today so we'll be starting soon! I'm also hoping to arrange some production meetings, so there will be much more to come!