Gentles All,
We have concluded the first week of our four-week HornRaiser crowd-funding
campaign to benefit Camp Shakespeare, and in just 10 days 89 donors have
helped us raise $32,374 or 215% of our original goal! Before any other
message, THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed in any amount. We are
watching the tallies of both dollars and donors, and are deeply gratified
by the tidal flood of support. If you have been following this wild ride,
you know that we hit our initial goal of $15,000 on Wednesday June 9 in
just 11.5 hours, hit our first stretch goal of $30,000 in just one more
day, and are working our way toward our second stretch goal of $45,000. Our
hope for the stretch goals is to give Doc and Robin the freedom to think
big about next summer, knowing that a solid financial foundation is already
in place.
We are looking to raise about $12,500 more in the next 20 days ($12,626 to
be specific!). Will you help us keep up our momentum by making a gift if
you haven’t already? This project is very important to our group of
Ambassadors and to so many of you reading this letter.
This is a chance to tell Doc and Robin how much we love them and honor the
work they have devoted themselves to.
Here is the link!
<https://gmail.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5df14a5a12c871dfa6025d72c&i…>
Let
your ducats flow like the sea! Give as generously as you can!
We are so grateful for every gift. Thank you for your support!
All the best,
Maggie Megaw, Mary Collins, & Madge Darlington
Dear Winedalians,
This morning we are launching a* Camp Shakespeare HornRaiser!
<https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/26117>* (think Kickstarter, but run
by UT and 100% of the money raised goes to Camp Shakespeare).
We joyfully invite you to show Doc your love and your support for the
program that is the culmination of his life’s work, Camp Shakespeare! Join
us in raising money for this summer’s virtual 2021 Camp performances of *Much
Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night. *Please note that this undertaking
will happen fast! We have until July 9 to meet (or surpass!) our goal of
$15,000.
You remember the thrill of being at Winedale, of being challenged to play
out your ideas and discoveries on stage. You remember how being at Winedale
provided lifelong friendships and a heartfelt relationship to the
transcendent work of William Shakespeare.
After thirty years giving that experience to classes of University
students, Doc has devoted the past *twenty-one years* to providing it to
young people, 11-16, inspiring them to reach inside themselves and outside
to others in exploration and play, study and hard work.
These are great gifts. You know this! Let's thank Doc. Let's acknowledge
the role played by Robin Grace Soto as Camp Director. Let's show our
appreciation to the kids who, in spite of the pandemic, have met weekly
with Doc and Robin to read plays and memorize lines and who remained
committed to Camp although attending in person was impossible this summer.
*Let’s deluge Doc, Robin and the Campers with love and hard cash!!*
*Thank you!*
*Madge, Maggie and Mary*
There is so much to celebrate today! In addition to a rip-roaring start to
Camp Shakespeare's HornRaiser <https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/26117>
*and* the news that Shakespeare at Winedale will be able to field a class
for the summer, Terry and her Mickee Faust club got a nice shout out in
a monthly column I contribute to for *American Theatre Magazine. *Please
check it out:
https://www.americantheatre.org/2021/06/07/this-pride-month-in-theatre-hist…
(Please ignore some typos you'll find. I've let the editor know about them.)
BTW, Terry is one of the Ambassadors for Camp Shakespeare and is currently
sharing the lead with Maggie Megaw for the number of people who have made a
contribution. So double yay for Terry today.
--
*Madge Darlington*
mmdarlington(a)gmail.com
(512) 627-6038
For those of you who knew Rob, this is the eulogy given by his longtime
friend Randy McCommons at a gathering held in his honor last week.
Captures him beautifully.
If Rob Was Here
A Eulogy Given Saturday May 29, 2021 for My Dear Friend Rob Lallier
If Rob was here he would be MCing this memorial.
He would have greeted each of us heartily with a personalized moniker or
reflection then he’d smoothly introduce you to someone in the room you
didn’t know and, before you know it, he would disappear, moving on to his
next matchmaking soirée.
If Rob was here he would regale us with a story about the deceased as if it
wasn’t him...some adventure he had had...maybe the one on the Pedernales
River or the one about Shakespeare at Winedale.
If Rob was here he’d give a literary review of the last book he’d read and
give a minimum of five recommendations for you to read.
In private he would ask for your opinion of his date and talk of his
struggles to maintain a relationship but with a sly wink he would hint
about the incredible sex he was having for a guy his age. Sorry you had to
hear that Keely (Rob’s daughter).
If Rob was here he’d point to something imaginary on your shirt and then
flick your nose when you looked then he’d slip outside for a smoke...of
something...and start up a conversation about his not being dead which
would quickly turn into a professorial lecture and then possibly an
argument. It would be challenging to disagree with him, as it always was,
but somehow our dead friend would convince you that he was alive or
ironically that there was life after death...which for an atheist, as he
was, is quite an accomplishment.
If Rob was here he would brag about his daughter...her work and her
betrothal to a fine young man which filled him with so much happiness.
____________________________________________________
These were added by others at the Memorial:
If Rob was here he would suggest we cook an elaborate meal after the
memorial...from scratch.
If Rob was here the food would be fabulous.
If Rob was here we’d play poker and all the cards would be wild except one.
If Rob was here I would hug him until he became uncomfortable and still
hold on. I would leave him some pot under the porch mat, make him laugh,
and tell him that I love him.
____________________________________________________
If Rob was here he’d point to something imaginary on my shirt and then
flick my nose when I looked. Got me again...damn it!
If Rob was here he’d talk about his community college students...something
about the numbing challenge of cracking their hardened shells...a Sisyphean
challenge that although he complained about it, he clearly loved it and
would throw himself into it over and over again.
But Rob isn’t here. We are here. Actually all I can say is that I am
somewhat here, somewhat in some other place of memory, and somewhat in a
place in the future contemplating death.
I can say that he was here and we were here together and I for one am
better for having been here with him...despite his incessant Rob-ness.
If Rob was here I’d pull him aside and ask him to help me write the ending
of this eulogy. He’d quibble with that word suggesting three alternatives.
Randy McCommons
May 29, 2021
Hi all, I just won a Pushcart Prize (it'll be in next year's anthology) for
a story of mine called "Mark on the Cross," published in The Sun last year
called! I'm in Maine too, on a glorious day, so I'm very happy on both
counts.
Maria
Maria Black
Lenox, MA 01240
(413) 329-8255
www.mariablackwriting.com
It's not universally known that I haven't held a regular job since before
the beginning of the Trump Administration (I may have been prematurely
anti-Trumpist), but I'm happy to announce that I've been hired as a global
policy director (Trust and Safety) for TikTok. I'll be moving with Mrs. G
to the San Francisco Bay Area as the pandemic finally ends (so, this
summer, we think).
I promise my own TikTok videos will rely heavily on lip-syncing Billie
Eilish and Oliva Rodrigo.
Love to all of you!
Mike