Beth

  • A Writing Commitment

    In sketch class this past Tuesday night we were supposed to present our realistic writing schedule. You’d think budding sketch writers (or their sidekicks – that’s me!) would already have one worked out; you’d be mistaken. When asked, I confidently proclaimed, “I can write from 5:30 to 6:00 every night”. It seemed kind of doable…

  • Advice & Perspective

    Last week the following email managed to leap over my spam filter and land among my various fan emails (my friends simply refer to them as ‘notes’, Philistines! But they know they’re fans deep down): “Hi Beth, I came across bigbluemess.com and thought there would be a good fit for a partnership with our network…

  • Sam Update: Return of the Mighty Huntress

    Sam in her guise as the The Mighty Huntress returned the weekend before last.  I was sitting inside and heard some peculiar noises coming from the backyard and found Sam merrily bouncing and biting away.  I ran through the list of proper responses and settled on, “turn the sound up on the TV and rock…

  • Sketch Highs and Lows

    For a week I’ve been high on a bit of praise I received from Esther’s Follies.  For those outside of Austin, Esther’s is a bit like our very own Saturday Night Live.  Their shows have been running non-stop Thursday – Saturdays since around 1977.   Recently, they (along with The Onion) hosted a sketch writing contest…

  • The Comment Overshare

    I have to make a confession. I’m a blog commenting oversharer. I’ll find myself completely captivated by a well-written story and the next thing I know, clicking “Like” just won’t do; I must tell a related story of my own. It’s a bit embarrassing at times as I look back at the other comments. They…

  • Rites of Passage

    I was born wearing glasses. The full head of hair, the colic-y cries and the thick plastic framing my unopened eyes made me easy to pick-out from all the newborns in the hospital’s nursery. “That one is ours!” It made for an interesting delivery story. I had my first eye surgery at age 2, the…

  • A Plea to Stephen Colbert

    Friends and Family (the rest of you are off the hook again – yipppee!) I just want to thank you all for helping support The Institution Theater and Me – especially all of you past and present PBS folks.  It means a great deal to me and I know I owe you one.  You are now…

  • DeAnne’s Vote and a Sam Update

    Earlier this week, I got a great email from my friend DeAnne. You should refer to her as HRH DeAnne, like we all do and if you could genuflect a bit or possibly approach on your knees, that would not only be a welcome gesture, but one that would be encouraged and save you from…

  • Support the Institution Theater!

    An Appeal to Friends and Family Remember when I worked for PBS and every few months I’d extend a hand to ask for your support?  I’d drag you into the studio to answer phones with promises of cheap pizza, soda, stale popcorn or maybe a even little BBQ. Those were the days of Austin City Limits tickets, galas, the auction, the…

  • 7×7

    Jacqueline over at Mature Student Hanging in There (or maturestudenthanginginthere) was kind enough to award me the 7×7 Award earlier in the week.  Jacqueline is one of those who make bold claims like:  white powdery stuff falls from the sky and collects on the roads, rooftops and sidewalks (I still suspect this is a myth…