Benjamin Barlow

Have I been busy? Yes.

Has it been fun? Yes.

Will it continue? Definitely!

Website first. The Bartell Theatre website that I have been working on finally went live and has been for about a month now. I cannot say that I am overly pleased with the design and agree with some criticism that it is “too rich” both in color and texture. But, overwhelming positive feedback has been received so I am feeling really good about the finished product… for now.

Of course, there is a lot to add. Share buttons, consistent support for photograph and pictures, and custom forms, to list a few. Those things will come and along the way, discussions about how we can improve on the design will absolutely take place.

The thing I am most pleased about it has been the simplicity. It has four major sections. The homepage with all the posters and events. The Event pages that give the most information with the least amount of distraction. The simple pages that give a good brief overview of The Bartell basics. The Information page where (eventually) treasure troves of details can be found in an organized and central location.

Then there is the Search Bar. My ultimate favorite CSS project. Rich? Yes. Fun and fitting? Absolutely. I’ll just leave it at that :) You can find it on the info page… check it out.

Now on to Left of Left Center.

Last fall, I was in a production called Widescreen that received a surprising amount of success. I won’t lie, I was on the fence when I was asked to audition for it. There are various aspects that made it appealing, but it was a case where a local writer is directing it with interesting aspects of what was going to be done on stage. Previous experiences have conditioned me to hesitate when an opportunity like this is presented. Ultimately, I asked around, they said the writer was a good guy and worth working with at least once. And then Widescreen happened and it was a much better experience than was expected.

So that back story leads into this, more recent, news.

That writer, Ned O’Reilly, wrote several short plays with the same/similar themes for entry into Rhinofest in Chicago titled Beta Blockers. He emailed me and several others to help him with this as directors. Of course I said yes! I ended up with my first choice, Arrhythmia, about two strangers of (fairly) opposite personalities find a relate-able subject of medications for their various illnesses and afflictions. They talk, relate, have a little tension and resolve it with a little romance.

We had auditions, I found the perfect cast, auditioned myself and was also cast. Needless to say, the whole experience, from beginning to end, was so worth the time and effort. It ended up being a top 10 theatre experience. The checkbox that says “perform a show in Chicago” is now checked, which ended up being a pleasant side effect.

Will Left of Left Center, the “Madison Wisconsin Theatre Group” that produced Beta Blockers may very likely continue and my involvement will likely continue with it. All of those details can be found on leftofleftcenter.com. I also set up that website :)

In other news? I joined a Men’s Choir. Should be fun. Work is excellent as always. I’m going to Las Vegas next week. Lots of posts will come out of that. Yoga has been a blast and I’m considering membership to The Studio. I suppose that’s about it for now. Until Next Time.