WWC Theatre Alumni Blog

~Casey~
Sounds like you had fun! I spent Christmas shoveling people's cars out of the snow...Some of the streets here are not even plowed yet...The worst part about all of it is that the Bengals were hiring people to shovel the snow out of the stadium...there are thousands of people here that have been without power for about four days now, but at least the football stadium is dug out. Tis' the season I guess~Lorna~

Hey Lorna! Good to see you on here! Guess what- I got a taste of your little white Christmas first hand! I left NYC on Thursday at 12:30pm and (unfortunately) flew to Cincinnati for a connecting flight to Salt Lake that never happened. We were one of the first flights into that airport after they had closed down for the storm. We got there and had to sit in the plane while they plowed out a path up to one of the few gates that wasn't already occupied. The inside of the airport was a very depressing scene. People everywhere, some who had already been there for two days, were sitting around looking sad or waiting in a massive line to try and get on another flight. When we got there, our flight was supposed to still be a go, but about the time we were supposed to board they cancelled because they didn't have a crew to fly our jet. So, we proceeded to a line of about 500 people that culminated in getting to use a phone to talk to a Delta agent who would reschedule you.

Some nice person who had already been there for a while walked past us and told us if we went to another terminal the lines were shorter, so we did that and got put on standby for the next SLC flight and then confirmed on the next flight to Las Vegas and then on to SLC. Well the next SLC flight had about 40 people in front of us on the standby screen, so obviously that wasn't going to happen. I later found out that they had people board that plane starting at about 9:00PM and they finally cancelled it at 2AM! We went to the gate for the Vegas flight, but then the gate was reassigned because the jet was frozen to the ground and to the little walkway that goes out to the jet and of course, they were out of de-icer. We went to another gate and finally got to board the plane. We were excited because it was only half full and we could sleep or whatever and it looked like we were going to finally get out of there. After sitting there for an hour, the flight attendant says, "We're ready to leave, we just don't have a pilot." Five minutes later she got on and said the flight was cancelled because there was no pilot. So, we de-planed and the gate agent tried to help us all out. She found a flight to LAX and said that we could all go get on it and it would make a stopover in Vegas for us. Yay! We go down there and get our tickets and ready to board that jet which has had people sitting on it for an hour already, but at least they had a pilot. Well, we're waiting and then the guy says sorry, we're not stopping in Vegas. Turns out the flight attendants said that if we stopped in Vegas then they weren't going to go any further than there. So, they said we could go to LAX if we wanted. I decided to do that because I knew staying at that airport was not going to be the best option and LA would have a lot more opportunities to get home. They were so fed up they just were taking any of our previous six or seven ticket stubs and said just get on the plane. We sat on it for two hours and they kept filling it with people until it was completely full. Finally at 2:30am we departed for LA and actually got into the air.

With all the time changes, we arrived in LA at 3:30am, man, this day just never ends. They have tickets there waiting for us since they knew we were coming. The ticket they gave me would have me waiting at the airport in LA for another 10 hours. NO WAY! So, I got in line to get on standby and the stupid lady says that Delta doesn't do standby. Whatever. So, I said just check me in for my flight and I'll get on standby at the gate since you don't know what you're talking about. We all had to go through security again and I finally made it through after a minor incident where they wanted me to take off my shoes and I didn't want to. I can't believe that there are more people arrested at the security gates on Christmas Eve. We finally got through and I layed down on the floor in front a gate that had an earlier flight to SLC. Eventually, I got on but was number 4 on the list. Luckily, I was the last person they allowed on that flight and so I made it back to Salt Lake by 1pm. Then of course, they had no idea where any of our luggage was since we changed flights so many times and we had to stand in line one more time to let them know our luggage was lost.

I finally got home to Pocatello at about 5pm on Christmas Eve. I got to have a nice dinner with my family, although I was quite tired. We had a nice Christmas day and it pained me to see the reports on the news about all the Comair flights cancelled in Cincinnati. There are still people there who have been there for 4 days now. Around 5pm Christmas day, I got a call from the airport saying that my bag had made it. I don't know how, but I was definitely lucky.

Yeah, so that was my exciting 30 hour adventure coming home for Christmas. No offense Lorna, but I'm just so glad I'm didn't get to spend my Christmas in Cincinnati!

Casey

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year! This year we are having a white Christmas in Cincinnati. It snowed a bunch and the entire city was shut down for about two days!!! A bunch of the city's snow plows broke down and the airport ran out of de-icing fluid! It is 17 degrees out and everyone here seems to think that it's cold??!! I guess they haven't experienced Rock Springs in the winter!! Billy did you get any snow in Cisco? Stay warm everyone and happy holidays!~ Lorna~

Happy Holidays, all. Hope this new year brings you all the best. Becky, I was best man for Bob Kaml's wedding back in 99, but I haven't heard from him in a few years. Casey, yes, I've met Jason, he's a fantastic poet and was the coach for the 2004 Dallas Slam team that took 3rd place at the national competition. I had the pleasure of featuring him at my open mic earlier this year, and am a big fan of his work. If you ever catch him again, ask him to tell you about the hotel bar story in new orleans. Caught up with Billy, hoping to catch some campfire time in January. Off to finish wrapping presents and head to the girlfriend's house for X-mas stuff, best to everyone this season. Stay safe & stay warm, y'all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL. Hope that the coming year brings many more happy blogs and other fantastic things to all those who spend time reading them. Zach, it is good to hear from you. Whatever happened to "Tricky" Bob? Becky

What's this about selling the Harley, Billy? Nate, I'm still so jealous of you, it seems like you're living the good life down there. Hey Zach- nice to see you're alive and well. Wish we would have known you were in the area while we were doing the show this summer. The slam poetry scene, eh? That's cool. I met Jason Carney last year, do you know who he is?

Just thought I'd wish you all Seasons Greetings from New York City while I have the chance. It's quite the holiday atmosphere today. I went and saw the ice skating rink and Christmas tree at Rockefeller center and all the cool windows at stores on 5th Ave. Oh, I saw Lisa last week. We just happened to be passing by each other on the street- kinda funny since I rarely see the same person twice on the streets here. I've already done two finals and have two more to do before I head back home to Idaho for the holidays. Generally, school is going well and life is going even better- I have a roof over my head, food on the table, and friends and family! What more could I ask for?

Oh, Billy, I found another "og" word for you. It's phlog. A phone blog- pretty cool eh.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Casey

ps. These pretzels are making me thirsty!

Billy, why are you selling the harley? Are you going crazy?
Dana
PS- Have you decided what you are doing this summer? Email me with all the details

Ah, Konnichiwa from Zach Schrotter in Dallas, TX. Been far too long since I've heard from anyone, and sent Billy and Colleen a message, where I heard about the blog. Next year, it'll be 10 years removed from when I started WWCC's Theatre & Dance Program. What's been going on since then? Glad you asked! Even if you didn't, I'm still gonna tell ya. I picked up my BA from Texas Woman's University in 2000, spent a couple of weeks in Prague to study Czech theatre (such an amazing place...especially when 12 oz. of bottled water costs a dollar, 16 oz. of beer costs 35 cents,) and decided to stay in the metroplex. I helped co-write dialogue and lyrics for a musical that kinda went dead in the water after the production group busted up, but still it was good to flex creative muscles. Still working joe jobs, but paying the bills. Performance wise, I'm out of theatre but finished up a year and a half long gig hosting and running one of the metroplex's best open mic nights featuring acoustic music and poetry, where I was performer, host, sound board op, talent coordinator, stage manager, booking agent and promoter. In other words, control freak monkey (wouldn't that make a great name for a funk album?) Since then, I've been trying to work my way into the slam poetry scene here in the DFW area and working on my harmonica playing, so I've been busy. Glad knowing everyone's busy as well, I hope to get together with Billy and Colleen soon. If anyone has a spare moment, feel free to drop me a line at zedintx@aol.com. Thanks for setting up the blog, looking forward to hearing more from y'all...although I really could have done without the exposition on the removal of jellyfish, Mr. Quinn. Love to all, and we'll speak to ya soon. Have a good holiday, and stay in touch.

"Konnichiwa!!" Zach Schrotter

Hi Becky and Jed and Lisa,
Glad you are back in theatre, Becky. Good to hear from you Jed. And I'm glad you got to see Kelsey, Lisa. I just heard from Zach Schrotter. I gave him the blog info, so maybe we will be seeing a post from him soon. Nate is right! Winter in Texas is campfire season! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good blog. Billy P.S. - have you considered the similarity in the words "blog" and "grog" (just an observation by an innocent bystander).

Hey All
It's Nate. Things here in Texas are good. Billy and I have had some goooood campfires! Ya'll (look at that, I'm typing like a Texan) should come down and see us when you can. Dan did you go see Gwar? Well I'll talk to ya'll later!
Rock On!!!
-Nate

Thanx to the blogger making it easy to keep in touch with former theatre mates... I hooked up with Kelsey while on our tour in Chicago! She came to see me dance at Columbia College Dance Center with Jane Comfort and Co. and afterwards we went out to a diner for a bit to eat and then to a jazz club for some music and south chicago ambience! Chicago is a beautiful city, y'all should find an excuse to get up here and visit Kelsey and see the town!



Lisa Niedermeyer

Hello from Jed, still in Salt Lake...

I was feeling a bit left out here untill Dan told me about the blog! Ah, to revisit the WWCC days. Life was so easily hard back then! All of the things everyone is doing arts wise is making me jealous. I suppose that is what I get for deserting into research psychology. However, I will say that all of those lighting and design classes keep being useful over and over again. I found myself explaining the importance of color in design to my boss referencing Lucher (remember that Billy?), only to find out he is color blind.

Do you think the nervous system can respond to colors that the brain can't distinguish? I suppose it depends on how he became color blind. I would bet no.

Well, that is it for me - glad to see you all here.

HI Billy and all,

After 5 1/2 years of waiting, I am actually involved in a production. I am playing Isabelle in "Scrooge". All I can say is, I hope it won't be another 5 1/2 years until I do it again. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the Christmas season.
Becky