Just A Peck 0019 // Frozen, 39 Steps, Car Windows

11/16/25

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What I'm Excited About This Week
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Journal
Memories.
My Favorite Quote of the Week

WHAT I'M EXCITED ABOUT THIS WEEK

This week the Playhouse opens what is perhaps its most ambitious production ever: Disney’s Frozen. An absolutely killer huge cast with spectacle and magic. Don’t miss it!

God of Carnage runs for one more weekend at Zeitgeist, spread the word! If you haven’t seen it, please don’t miss it. Have you already seen it? Then you should see it again!

We’re headed back to Spring Green this week for the final show of the season: 39 Steps. It’s a show I love and it has some of our favorite company members.

Roger Deacons, one of the greatest cinematographers of all time, has a new book! Looking forward to digging into this very much.

Roger Deacons' new book, Reflections on Cinematography

This week is the annual Christmas City of the North Parade. Watch for the Playhouse’s fun entry promoting Frozen. (You can start humming that Merv Griffin song now.)

JOURNAL

We opened God of Carnage this week. It’s always a mixed bag of emotions to open a show as a director–relief from the stress of the final sprint, sadness about stepping away from a project that you have been working on for almost a year in many cases, and gratitude for all the incredible artists you’ve been able to collaborate with. This one is no different. I’m immensely proud of the show, I hope you get to see it.

(Also, I’m getting better at making clafoutis.)

We had some exceptional northern lights two nights in a row this week. Colors and wild pulsations visible to the naked eye.

The big story of the week is that, as I was driving Jody to school Thursday morning, a young kid waiting for the bus at the end of his driveway heaved a big rock into our car as we passed. The rear driver’s side window exploded inward, and we’ve spent the days since then dealing with police, insurance companies, car repairs, and all the logistical headaches that accompany events like this. It has been a colossal pain in the ass, but it’s hard to be too frustrated when you realize that a split-second difference would have resulted in the rock going through the front driver’s side window, and since we were travelling around 50mph at the time, the results could have been catastrophic–even deadly.

On Saturday, Jody and I made a day trip to see Kelsie and Alex’s production of Tuck Everlasting. We caught Edgar Wright’s new movie, The Running Man, at an IMAX theater.

Then, after stopping at the GameZenter to look at board games, we headed to ElMar’s NY Pizza in Plymouth for a slice of NY-style pizza.

We met Alex for a quick drink pre-show.

Then we headed to Orono High School for Tuck Everlasting. The parking lot was filled with student vehicles doing some delightfully analog marketing.

We had our traditional debrief with Kelsie and Alex after the play. It was a long day, but one filled with wonderful things and even more wonderful people.

What I watched:

Breathless (1960). Godard's French New Wave Classic. Belmondo, Seberg, and jump cuts. I wanted it fresh in my mind before I watch Linklater's new movie about its "making of".
The Running Man (2025). I love the obsessive brilliance of the way Edgar Wright constructs his movies. This one was a fun bit of 80s action blockbuster nostalgia.