Theatrical Development Centre

Here's an older page from the Gnome of New Hope Storybook. It has contact info, but more than that, it points out Gnome Gnog, a product line that involves creating a brew. If you are interested in participating in creating that product line, let me know.

I had a most interesting thought today. For many years I worked as a traveling (and stationary) theatre technician. I ended my work in that arena as a Technical Director for The New Hope Arts Commission, working for nine years in that capacity, also doing set construction, lighting design, stage & house management and show operation. When I say ended, it is not so much that I quit doing it as it was that I got tired of building other people's shows and began writing my own musical. Over the years I managed to put over 350 shows under my belt. That's shows, not performances. So, getting wrapped up in The Gnomes of New Hope left little time for doing other shows. For a time, I was doing a fair amount of Gilbert and Sullivan, as a performer, but it got to the point where doing chorus was no longer acceptable and I concluded that I simply could not dedicate my energy to what needed to be done to pursue performance as a principle. My work with Image of the Mind Studios, and the creative projects on the boards, had to take precedence. Quite simply, I am getting old fast and I have a lot of things that need to be finished before I run out of energy and ability.

So today I realized that what I have been doing, in terms of setting up my shop, is precisely what I did for so many years, only now the environment is going to be under my control. Of course, I need to achieve certain business milestones before I can actually achieve that, but I am well on my way to doing that. It all revolves around sufficient capital influx to secure long term stability for the facilities. All else, in large part has been garnered. Of course, upgrading equipment is an ongoing necessity and establishing an HR operation, along with Marketing, Sales and Distribution is also needing to be done, but the foundations for production, not only from a historical standpoint, but from a current status standpoint are moving forward very nicely. There is a very clear overall plan and a work process that advances toward an ultimate goal that is well defined. I just found it interesting to observe how much of what I am doing is solidly founded in my career history. Somehow that was not as clear to me while I was very wrapped up in the publishing end of things. I sure hope that we can create a cash flow scenario that funds the overall plan.

AG

Shop Activities

Well, the concentration is still publishing The Gnomes of New Hope, and in that regard, I am setting up the book binding aspect of that project. I am gathering the tooling for being able to punch binding holes, one full book at a time. If my punch press tooling designs work to do that, it will be a big plus to the production line. I want to be certain we can do that before the product lines are released, since the uniqueness of the books is important for it's overall appeal.

 I have endeavored to rearrange the floor plan of the shop, something I was putting off because of the magnitude of doing that, but it had to be done. I was thinking it through for some time and finally determined to go ahead with that.  I installed shelving to delineate the work areas and get supplies, tools and such off the floor space. Initially, the space was mostly for storage, but since I rather intend on dying here, I concluded that I might as well set it up right. I've set up, an ongoing process, a wood shop (for set construction and furniture restoration), a metal shop with welding (for general fabrication, prototype & animatronic work). I'm still needing a good lathe and milling machine, since I don't have access to our family's machine shop (for reasons I won't go into). But I have been delineating the space for these functions. I have been a Corvair enthusiast since 1970 so I have two work bays with  a '61 Corvair Rampside and a '66 Monza Convertable resident in those work areas. One bay will become a paint booth, for both the cars and the theatre work, the other is for mechanical and other vehicle and other restoration work. I also have a '64 Greenbrier, which I will be converting into a parade float for The Gnomes of New Hope. In addition to the service bays, I am setting up a third bay area that is dedicated to my 1931 Model A Roadster, which right now is in pieces.

There are many other work areas in the shop that are in stasis. The product showroom, the exhibition gallery, the puppet design & fabrication area, a sound stage and sound booth, paint area, lighting and electrical closet, a future control booth for the stage, a peanut gallery with around 80 1930's deco theatre seats (needing restoration). Add to that two motorcycles, both of which are disassemble and need attention. 

So as you see, I've got my hands full and the primary objective above all this (and more) is to generate enough capital to get this done and hire people to work on these projects. In addition to The Gnomes of New Hope, I have other projects that need to be worked on, but everything is pushed aside in lieu of completing The Gnomes and getting that into the marketplace.

One very important goal is to create a remote location for The Theatrical Development Centre and Spiritual Retreat.

 I will likely post more about other work areas, like the back lot and some of the projects taking place there too.

That's all for now. AG

AG