Last year, as part of a Sales 2.0 blog post, I embedded the classic Alec Baldwin  Glengarry Glen Ross video to highlight old-school sales techniques. Well, it’s Christmas and the end of the year is typically a feast or famine kind of time in enterprise software sales. To keep things light, here’s the Saturday Night Live Christmas version of the speech. Happy Holidays!

I wanted to send a quick note and let you all know that I’ve been heads down (as we all should be) and am fortunate to report that Q4 & all of 2009 has been a really great year.  At this point (12/21),95% of the hard selling has been completed and now the final push is on to get those last deals in.

I wish you all a great close to the month, a happy holiday season and a prosperous 2010.   Gonna be great.

“Put that coffee down! Coffee is for closers.”

I haven’t taken any time this week to do anything but watch TV I downloaded. Hours upon hours of it: Band of Brothers, Brotherhood, 30 Rock, Sons of Anarchy and more.

How did I manage to score all this time, you ask? I got canned, fired, released, let go, booted.

I’ve been sitting here, clearing my brain of all the crap that has been filling it over the past 18 months or so, all the negativity, all the self doubt.

There’s irony in this; one year ago (November 26th, 2008, to be precise), I was packaged out from TELUS corporate. I was let go last week (Friday, November 13, 2009) by Rogers. I’ve gone a year, supposedly moved ahead, but I’m back almost exactly where I’ve started. Funny how things go, isn’t it?

Here’s my chance to get away from what Zig Ziglar would call “stinkin thinkin”. Start out fresh, make good decisions, move on with my life and put the negativity behind me.

So that’s what I’m doing, starting today….

Lesson: Think about who you are talking to before you open your mouth

Nån som minns det gamla Attention Interest Desire Action? Inte? Nån som minns filmen Glengarry Glen Ross? Inte det heller. Kolla det här klippet och se filmen senare, om inte annat.

Advice to myself for the day, from Alec Baldwin’s speech in Glengarry Glen Ross, his only lines in what is arguably his best performance:

“Get mad, you sons of bitches, get mad.”

Don’t fold, don’t complain, don’t get all sorry for yourself. Get pissed off and get something done.

Lessons: Ask the Tough Questions & Interview Wisely

Ce-am mai citit:

1. “Ghidul Utilizatorului pentru Kitul de instalare Romtelecom Clicknet”
- o lectura fundamentala. rezultatele se vor vedea cam in 2 zile, cand o sa revin in secolul XXI printr-un internet bun, nu rabla asta de 60kb/secunda pe care-o am acum.

2. Jean-Claude Carriere – “Povestiri filozofice din lumea intreaga. Cercul mincinosilor 2″
- o colectie de snoave, anecdote, fabule si povesti, culese de Jean-Claude Carriere, considerate ca avand semnificatii profunde. Din punctul meu de vedere un mare esec. Cu greu am rabdat sa o parcurg pe toata. I want my money back.

3.Christopher Moore – “Mielul: Evanghelia dupa Biff, tovarasul de joaca al lui Iisus”
- merita un review separat. va fi scris in curand.

4. Tal Ben-Shahar – “Happier”
- nu merita doar UN review separat, ci vreo 10. va fi scris aici.

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Ce-am mai vazut:

1. Der Untergang
- genial. review-ul exista deja aici.

2. Glengarry Glen Ross
- film bun spre foarte bun, cu o panoplie de actori unul si unul. va avea un review.

3. The Recruit
- film tipic de suspans pentru hollywood, anii 2000. nici rau, dar cu siguranta nici bun. Colin Farrell si Al Pacino, iar actrita prezenta in film arata ca un travestit. scenariul are cateva rasturnari de situatie, dar se situeaza departe de stacheta ridicata de Fincher cu “The Game”. prea mediocru pentru un review.

4. Two for the money
- desi e un film despre vanzari si despre fotbal american, reuseste sa fie incredibil de pliiiictiiiisiiiiitooooooooor. Un Al Pacino departe de pregnanta actoriceasca obisnuita, si Matthew McConaughey banal pana la dumnezeu. review: sub nici o forma.

5. Donnie Brasco
- maratonul Al Pacino continua, de data asta fiind secondat de Johnny Depp. ( E interesenant cum in aproape toate filmele lui ( mai putin Scarface ), nu prea exista femei care sa-i dea replica lui Pacino, ci doar barbati. ) Filmul e in cu totul alta categorie decat cele doua de deasupra lui, e unul din filmele mele favorite despre mafie – the Godfather imi displace profund, btw – si nici macar nu e regizat de unul din principalii regizori asociati cu filmele de genul asta ( de Palma, Scorsese sau Coppola ), ci de Mike Newell. In mod clar, va avea un review.

=================================

Pe heavy rotation: Rakim – It’s been a long time

One of the many annoying sayings heard around most corporate offices is “TGIF” (Thank God Its Friday) and I whenever I hear that, I say (under my breath) “You are a loser” because I hate Fridays.  As a sales rep, this is the time of the week where I get tangled up in non-productive internal meetings and forecast calls.  It’s also when most of my clients and prospects are shutting down for the weekend.  I’ve worked hard all week, moved some things forward and now I’m out of runway and must  stop pushing the deal foreward.  Or am I?  What if I could do a few small things to maintain my flow and keep the ball moving forward.  As a rep, this momentum is my lifeline.  Lose it and your are F’ed.

While there are many ways to build momentum and I thought I would share 3 ways to build sales momentum on a Friday:

1) Get Prepared & Be Productive:

Friday morning before 9:00 am – make a list with 2 columns.

Column 1 has the names of customers that you have not talked to in the past 2 weeks -NOTE: I never let 2 weeks pass without a live call into any existing client because if you don’t have time to speak to them, you do not deserve to have them .

Column 2 has a list of 20 prospects that you will connect live with that day.  This is the foundation of my afternoon call blitz.

2) Be Discliplined and Make the Damn Calls

Clear your schedule for any BS meetings and dedicate at least the afternoon to making calls – this goes for both inside and field reps.  Now while, you can’t cancel a forecast meeting, you can get prepared for that call the night before to limit the time it takes by having your shit together.  From 1pm-4pm, a little discipline and hammer the phone to reach as many people as you can.  Set a goal for each conversation to accomplish the following:

a) Strengthen the relationship – maybe its a personal sharing or learning experience but before you hang up, make sure you’ve uncovered something about the person that you did not know about them and be sure to share something with them to make sure the exchange is 2 sided.   This sharing is critical to building a foundation of a relationship and many of us are guilty of rushing through conversations because we are so busy.  I also want to stress that you must share some things about yourself.  People will open to people who are human.  If its kids, love of a sports team or an enthusiam for choppers, share as it will open more doors than you think.

B) Enter the call with a purpose to uncover a new piece of information about their job/business/pain and ultimately, to move the ball forward.  What has been the biggest pain in the ass to them?  Everyone has one part of their job that was not supposed to be there when they signed on – find out what it is and see how your product/service/partner ecosystem can solve it.

3) Schedule Networking For Next Week

I’ve stressed before the importance of making time to build a network.  Most people start networking when they have no job or hate their job.  These people make me sick and I hate them – they are incapable of being successful as they willl never be able to handle the amount of consistent work it will take.

Here’s what I do every Friday – Make calls to set 2 lunch dates for networking for the following week.  Who is someone that you should meet with but never make the time to do so.  I alway set them on Tues & Thurs to leave M,W,F for customers and prospect lunches.

If you can get prepared and put some focused, hard work into the phones, you will end the week with a clear vision of where your pipeline is, what your prospects need from you and with enough momentum to carry you sailing through the 2 days weekend.

One Final Tip: Don’t ever, ever, ever, say TGIF to me or I will cut you off like a dead lead.

Here is the Alec Baldwin scene in David Mamet’s ‘Glengarry Glen Ross‘. It’s his only scene in the film, but wow, is it great. He also looks so young compared to his ‘30 Rock’ self.

This is close to the beginning of the film, so if you haven’t seen it you may still enjoy it, though it’s not as effective out of context.

Note: Clip is definitely NSFW.

What’s great is Baldwin’s commanding presence in the room. He’s definitely younger than all of the salesmen but with arrogance, humor, and what can be boiled down to true sales-talk he takes what can almost be called a “cameo” and makes it awesome.

I have recently been on a David Mamet kick and last night I watched ‘The Spanish Prisoner‘ for the first time. It was a good film, but I feel my enjoyment was hindered because I saw ‘House of Games’ and knew this was also a con movie. When surprises are expected the fun isn’t in being surprised but in guessing where the next surprise will come from. Yet in the end, it is ultimately not a surprise because pretty much everyone is in on something.

I have not seen every film by David Mamet. ‘House of Games’ was entertaining. ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ was taut and subtle. I think ‘Redbelt’ is my favorite. There are a couple others which you can IMDb. ‘The Spanish Prisoner’ ranks above ‘House of Games’ but below ‘Redbelt’, I guess. If that helps place anything, which it really doesn’t.

But ‘The Spanish Prisoner’ is a great, fun movie. It manages to do what few movies can accomplish: The film says one thing, tells us it is something else, but then falls back and tells us a third thing that puts the first two into a whole new perspective–and somehow it all makes sense. It is rare when that third step is even attempted, let alone executed with any success.

This is not a film you need to watch twice to understand, though a second viewing would be much more fun. Little hints are dropped along the way, one in particular where one character has to improvise and she is so good at it that we know she’s not as candid as she tries to appear.

And at the end it is nice to appreciate how truly elaborate all of the plays in the film are. Bit by bit, con by con, they seem amusing, but it is when they are tangled in the same web that their elaborate nature can be appreciated.

I have been purposely vague. Despite this film coming out in 1997 I want to avoid spoilers since many young people will have yet to see this film. Don’t skip it. It’s not about some dude stuck in a prison somewhere. I promise.

The untold world of a salesman sure is funny.

A group of real estate salesmen (Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris and Alan Arkin) in Chicago vie for the best “leads” at a small firm selling property in resort areas such as Florida and Arizona. When a hot shot executive (Alec Baldwin) from the head office arrives and proposes a vicious sales contest (the winner gets a Cadillac, the loser gets fired), competition gets stiff, and the veteran salesmen suddenly find their jobs in jeopardy.

The film is adapted from a play back in 1982 when times were good, now the times are tough and it creates a great piece for this story.

This is surely a movie for people who love dialogue filled movies. The screenplay is the best I have ever heard in my life and it’ so funny but yet so true. These real estate salespersons are so broke they try their hardest to save their jobs and make a deal, but yet they still find ways to make hilarity when their in this time.

Now the screenplay couldn’t have been too great without the actors delivering them. The ensemble cast does an amazing job in this film its really hard to say who does the best, since they are all so equal. Lemmon you fell bad for, Pacino is the funny guy at the office who doesn’t take crap, Ed Harris and Alan Arkin are the two buddies who always discuss real estate, and Kevin Spacey plays the boss who is a square and gets made fun of a lot. Alec Baldwin also has an amazing scene where he is just so nasty that it’s really funny.

Though the story was well-acted and had a very witty and well-written screenplay the story itself didn’t really grasp me. I felt myself bored at points, and I thought that the movie didn’t do much to keep the story interesting.

Consensus: Great script and a well-acted ensemble, features a great dialogue filled movie that shows the real life of desperate salesman’s.

9.5/10=Full Price!!

Short feature I wrote.
Published in Independent Weekly October 21, 2009 issue.

Chapel Hill
Glengarry Glen Ross
Deep Dish Theater—Over the last 30 years, David Mamet has cultivated his plays with what is now known as “Mametspeak,” usually involving loads of expletives but plenty of intrigue. His Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Glengarry Glen Ross, centers on four Chicago real estate salesmen who are competing for the top salesman position not only because the winner will receive a brand new Cadillac, but also because the other two will be fired. Illegal and unethical acts ensue as the men compete to keep their livelihoods.

Deep Dish Theater takes on Mamet’s signature play under the direction of Paul Frellick, with a cast consisting of Byron Jennings, John Murphy, David Ring, Harvey Sage, Michael Goolsby, Joshua Purvis and Jonathan Leinbach. The show runs Oct. 23-Nov. 14, with performances Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $14 for students, $16 for seniors and $18 for adults. A discussion of the play, free and open to the public, will be held prior to the Nov. 12 performance. For more information, visit www.deepdishtheater.org. —Belem Destefani

After a while we went through trials like A Time To Kill

The band becomes a family, though dysfunction-ill

Not 12 but 6 Angry Men

Now 5 left after one Departed

So we playing local shows for Barflys on Absynthe

The music game to us looking like Pan’s Labyrinth

Seeking fan expansion

Like Monty Python to the Holy Grail

Like Hoop Dreams even though they failed

You still succeed for trying, not buying in to what they tell you

Not listening to what Glengarry or Glen Ross  are trying to sell you

So my mind changed i became never tired

A Man on Fire

And It was going Great

Like Steve McQueen trying to Escape

We became Drunken Masters at the live performance show

Natural Born Killers of the rhythm and the flow

That’s where the story ends for now, come back next week for more

a New Beginning Like Star Wars Chapter 4

The usual Michael Moore schtick – timely information, heart-felt personal stories, delivered in an entertaining approach, and Moore’s huge ego.  You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be horrified, you’ll still be tired of Michael Moore.

After becoming the most successful documentarian of all time through films like Roger & Me (1989), Bowling for Columbine (2002) and Sicko (2007), the “voice of the everyman” (if the everyman was worth a couple million dollars) tackles the horrors of capitalism, the U.S. economy and the road to its current ruin.

The Setup:
Capitalism is bad.  Democracy is good.  What the hell happened?  That’s pretty much it.  Citing since the Reagan era, the U.S. economy has embraced capitalism as the new religion.   Through visits with poorly paid airline pilots, families being evicted from their foreclosed homes, and “delinquents” jailed for cash, Michael Moore gives us a picture of how decisions made by the rich and powerful keep them happy and the rest of the 99% poor.

Stretching about two hours, Moore tries to start a revolt within his audience by laying out what’s wrong, how we got there, and what we need to do to change things.  Unfortunately the people that go to Michael Moore movies tend to pump their fists at the screen…until the credits finish rolling and they go home.

The Thoughts:
Are you going to like this movie?  Well, that depends.  Have you liked any of Michael Moore’s movies?  You say yes, then you’ll like this.  “Capitalism” is as much a vehicle for his ego as it is about telling the story.  But, his story is pretty good.  Though he talks to you through a voice over like you’re 3 years old and too dumb to understand what the grownups are talking about, he does hit all the right notes – sad families in sad situations and the “evil” men that put them there.  This time around, it’s more about inciting riots and rebellion than going for the laughter (the previous “hahaha, oh how our health care/gun control/government suck”).

I really enjoyed the movie’s message but found my mind wandering a few times.  It’s hard to be completely engrossed when it’s about our neighbours and not our backyard.

Capitalism: A Love Story Rating:

2 tickets – good movie, take a friend.  As a Canadian, it’s probably an easier film to watch but it doesn’t make it any less shocking.  An important movie that would only be made better if Michael Moore didn’t narrate or star in it.

Rating system:
½ ticket – rip up your ticket.
1 ticket – go, but don’t tell anyone.
2 tickets – good movie, take a friend. 
3 tickets – tell everyone you know.

Coming Attractions:

Pirate Radio (or the Boat that Rocked) – A fun, anti-establishment, 60s, rock n’roll movie.  On a boat.  Directed by the guy that did Love Actually and Four Weddings and a Funeral so it’ll be quite heavy on the sappy.  On the other hand, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy and Nick Frost (of Shaun of the Dead) + music of the Doors and Led Zeppelin + authority asskicking = yes please.

Randomly Recommended

Taxi to the Dark Side – Keeping in the theme of shocking docs, this was recommended to me by two completely random people in a short period of time.  WOW.  This documentary about torture practices in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay by U.S. interrogators will freak you the hell out.  Corruption, complicity, water boarding and death.  I think I went on a date like that once.  WATCH IT!

Glengarry Glen Ross – So you want a movie about capitalism?  I know a few people that just can’t like this movie.  I ask them to try again.  The cast is unbelievable – Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, and Jack Lemmon.  Come. ON!  With one of the best monologues from Baldwin in any movie, check out this story of cutthroat salesman and remember to Always Be Closing.  Sorry, had to.

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Hosted by: Grant Brunner & Marty Keefe

Grant’s Topics

• Return of Movies Without a Monday! Glengarry Glen Ross
• Blu-Ray Madness
• Did he see everything? Only the Terminator.

Marty’s Topics

• Da beach, Irish festival, and car show.
• Computer Graveyard, goes bye
• Basement cleaning

Podcast of the Week

• DNA, RNA, and protein formation 

Wikipedia Article of the Week

• Grassroots 
• Cavity Magnetron

Plugs

• GrantBrunner.com
• Macgasm
• They Said Server Closet
• MEK Photos

I am usually a person who appreciates some steak with my sizzle, who doesn’t fall for style over substance. However, a common thread amongst our lineup today is that it’s the actors and their performances that contribute to the success of these films, not necessarily the scripts themselves. As a writer I usually find that irksome. Too many movies these days have an unimaginative and flimsy story but attempt to attract an audience with explosions and special effects. Many others think that the masses will shell out their hard earned cash based solely upon the big name actors they’ve gotten to sell out and be part of their wretched production. Sadly this works all too often. But every once in awhile even I fall in love with a film where I can’t make head or tails out of the plot much less explain it yet I am beguiled by strong performances by actors going above and beyond their normal range of mediocrity.

75 Goodbye Mr. Chips

I liked school. I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a nerd, but I did make good grades and actually attempted to learn stuff. For folks like me, there are always one or two teachers that rise to the top of the memory because of how well they did their job, how personable and helpful they were, and because they always went the extra mile to make sure being in their class was a positive experience. Goodbye Mr. Chips is a story about such an extraordinary educator. It is set in an English boarding school during the 1930’s, and flashes back over five decades telling the story of Professor Chipping, aka Chips. There is a touching love story woven into the narrative, as well as references to both world wars. But it is the man’s relationships with literally generations of boys, oftentimes from the same family, that is at the heart of the film. I remember catching this movie in college with a good friend of mine, although I can’t remember if we rented it or it just happened to be on a channel like American Movie Classics. I wish I could recall the exact circumstances, because either way it seems like it was an odd choice knowing our mindset at the time and my maturity level at that age. Whatever the details, I just know that it’s always stuck with me and 20 years later continues to be one of my favorites. I would encourage anyone who runs across Goodbye Mr. Chips, whether it is in a video store or on some random TV channel on a lazy, rainy, movie watching sort of day to give it a whirl. You won’t be disappointed.

74 Glengarry Glen Ross

On rare occasions…very rare…the plot of a movie takes a backseat to its performances. Glengarry Glen Ross is one of those singular cases. Any movie with the combined talents of Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Jack Lemon, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, and Alan Arkin has a head start before one scene is even filmed. When the movie is based on a David Mamet play that’s even better. For the record, the story is about a couple of days in the life of some real estate agents who have been told they need to sell some property or lose their jobs. I suppose a deep examination would yield a lot of mumbo jumbo about this movie being a commentary on the rat race, the pressures of success, and the moral yin and yang of how far some folks are willing to go to make a buck. I understand all that. But trust me, don’t ruin your enjoyment of Glengarry Glen Ross with paralysis by analysis. Just sit back and enjoy some of America’s finest actors at the top of their game hitting it out of the ballpark. Lemon should have been the runaway winner of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. How he wasn’t nominated and the award was given to Gene Hackman (for Unforgiven) is something I will never understand. Pacino was nominated in the supporting category, but lost. However, that same year he won the Best Actor Oscar for Scent of a Woman, and no one can argue with that.

73 North by Northwest

I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it a million more…Hitchcock was one twisted freak. Brilliant…..but nevertheless twisted. His films are an acquired taste and I have to admit I’m not a huge fan. Thrillers and old style “horror” just aren’t my cup o’ tea. However, ol’ Al did produce a few films that weren’t so palpably creepy but were more subtly, subversively strange. That’s a variety of freaky that can entice my sensibilities. North by Northwest is an ideal case in point. Cary Grant stars as a man who is the victim of mistaken identity. Some thugs think he is someone else and that he is in possession of an item they want. The details aren’t really important at all. The chase is the thing. North by Northwest is a thrill ride that takes us from New York City to Mount Rushmore and contains some of the most iconic scenes in movie history. I think I watched it on TV back in junior high thinking it was just one of those movies everyone needs to see. I’m not so much of a follower now and don’t really care what anyone else thinks most of the time, but I’m glad I was back then, otherwise I may have cheated myself out of a truly enjoyable “popcorn” experience and a film I enjoy to this day.

72 American Pie

Wow…talk about shifting gears. American Pie came along in the late 1990’s and earned its rightful place in the pantheon of great teen comedies alongside Porky’s, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, and Risky Business. This isn’t high art we’re talking about folks. But you know what? Funny is funny. I appreciate films that are well written, make me think, and have some sort of valuable lesson. On the other hand, sometimes it’s okay to just relax and have fun. I believe a huge part of the success of American Pie is that the characters are pretty realistic. We’ve all known horndog teens like these guys. Some of us have BEEN teenage horndogs like these guys. We laugh because we understand their point-of-view. And even if we’ve grown older and have taken on the inherent responsibilities of adulthood, part of us always hearkens back to those carefree school days. American Pie is fun without being senselessly offensive (for the most part), and on a certain level it is even a bit heartwarming and poignant.

71 The Patriot

Much ado was made about the late Heath Ledger’s brilliantly over-the-top, splendidly manic performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight. And since it was his final role before his untimely death one can understand the commotion. But for me, when I reflect on Ledger’s all too short career, I instantly think of his role in The Patriot. Mel Gibson stars as a widower who just wants to raise his children and desires to stay out of the Revolutionary War. But tragic circumstances pull him into the conflict against his will. Gibson is outstanding in one of his most underappreciated roles, and Ledger was launched into instant stardom. Jason Isaacs (known to audiences now as Lucius Malfoy, malevolent foe of Harry Potter) makes a chilling villain, and restrained yet evocative supporting characters are played by Tom Wilkinson, Donal Logue, and a host of other unheralded performers. As I’ve mentioned previously in this series, I’m not usually a big war film kind of guy. However, I am a history buff so stories about The Revolution or The Civil War atleast get a look. Gibson’s choice of roles outside Braveheart and the Mad Max & Lethal Weapon series has been somewhat shaky (Air America, Man Without A Face, Maverick…all clunkers, and not ones that the government will give you money for), but he hit a home run with The Patriot.

A – Always.

B – Be.

C – Closing.

Detta är ett citat från Glengarry Glen Ross – en lysande film som förtjänar en plats i hyllan med klassiker. Här är “brass balls”-scenen som du inte bör missa. Nu står den filmen för den mest aggressiva typen av säljande. Men man ska komma ihåg att försäljning är alla företags huvuduppgift. Om man inte kan sälja det man levererar har man ingeting.

Säg efter mig: Om. Man. Inte. Kan. Sälja. Har. Man. Ingenting.

Smaka på den sanningen. Känns det obehagligt nu så kanske du ska tänka om och börja odla rosor istället och hoppas att någon annan kan sponsra ditt liv.

Though the public reaction to my pseudo-review of Glengarry Glen Ross wasn’t as outrageous as I had initially feared (my house hasn’t been egged and I haven’t yet received any death threats. Doug Bentin would surely be disappointed in me.), I was intrigued by some comments made by one of my friends who happened to be in GGR. What he said helped illustrate the exact problem with most theatre and most actors in this town. Here’s what he had to say:

“Bottom line, I simply love acting and working on GlenGarry Glen Ross was a wonderful experience. It was the first production in that space and sold out pretty much every performance. Two months prior to opening there was no stage no walls, no booth, no backstage, no risers or seating, etc. We all were involved in basically building the theatre from scratch. It was hard work but very rewarding and fun at the same time. Now that’s “community theatre”. Support and enjoy it for what it is but don’t expect “Broadway” quality performances or productions.”

I responded to his remarks in the forum in which he made them, but after thinking a bit more about it, I’ve decided it was probably a good time to break this down a bit further, and explain, in part, why I feel the need to rant and rave online about the state of theatre in Oklahoma City while simultaneously threatening most of the relationships I have in OKC theatre.

The first truth about theatre according to the Word of Barrett is this – I do not care how much fun you had doing the show. If I went to the trouble to call the theatre, make a reservation, get off work, come home, change clothes, have dinner, drive to the theatre, pay my money for tickets, and sit through 2 hours of a production, I want a quality show. You do not get a pass for a lackluster production simply because it’s “community theatre”. Sorry. I don’t care how much fun you have with the cast, I don’t care how hard you worked on your costumes or your accent, I don’t care if the theatre flooded the night before and you finished pumping out the water ten minutes before curtain…if you step on stage when the curtain goes up, you should be fully prepared to do the script justice and put a quality product on stage. Period. Too often actors/directors/theatres in this town expect to be given leeway because they are community theatre. As soon as you stop charging me for tickets, I will stop telling you the truth about your production. If you want to entertain me for free, I’ll be happy to sit through it. Look, I can sit at home on a Friday night and watch TV. You need your audience. Don’t try and shortchange me and call it “community theatre”. I call bullshit. Which leads me to…

“Support and enjoy it for what it is but don’t expect ‘Broadway’ quality performances or productions.”

Listen, I realize we’re a long way from Broadway, but I will continue to expect quality performances and productions. A huge problem in this town is that many in the theatre community feel the rest of the community should just blindly appreciate what the theatres are doing while keeping expectations low. Why in the world shouldn’t I expect a high quality production? I’ve seen some absolutely brilliant productions in OKC and have even been involved in a few. Again, if I pay for my ticket, I will expect to get my money’s worth. More often than not, I am disappointed. Have we grown lazy as an acting community? Do we give our audiences any credit? Are we afraid to be open and honest with each other? How else will we improve unless we can tell each other ways in which we can improve? I have never been the guy to sit and blow smoke up someone’s ass, especially actors, and I wouldn’t want anyone to do it to me. If I’m on stage, I’m opening myself up to both criticism and praise. It’s disingenuous to soak up all the praise and completely dismiss the criticism. I have been in shows that were reviewed honestly, and I have listened to a cast talk about how full of shit the reviewer is when I’ve felt the reviewer actually got most of it right. And I was among the ones getting panned.

There is no reason Oklahoma City can’t be a thriving theatre city. But don’t tell me that “any theatre is better than no theatre at all”. I have worked with some of the best actors of my life doing shows here. Unfortunately, those types seem to be in short supply these days, or maybe nobody has bothered to hold them to a higher standard. I do not claim to be the arbiter of quality theatre but I do feel there is a void in OKC for open, honest discussion of theatre. This will always be a place for that. As much as I may disagree with people, I do respect that they have opinions, regardless of how wrong they are.