Jarvis Becomes Poe...

Monday, Claude and I drove to Chelsea, Michigan. This is where Jake lives. We checked into the Holiday Inn Express for the night. As we entered the lobby, on the front desk counter was a page in a frame stating Sandra Christensen was the "Guest of the Day". What a surprise. We got a goodie bag and headed to our upgraded room for a bit of a rest before our evening festivities. Our rest period included a call to Muskegon, Michigan to wish Miss Aubrey Anne Thompson a happy 11th birthday. Her birthday was Saturday and she was with David for the week so our phone call was postponed until Monday. She had a great birthday and we had a lovely visit with this pretty young lady. Then we chatted with Paul, Katelyn and Nissa. After our phone visits, we were off to the Performance Network Theater in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They had a Fireside Festival of New Works this week and Monday they read Jake's play entitled "Jarvis Becomes Poe". This play is about a young writer named Jarvis who has a metaphysical weekend learning experience with well-known writers who have passed away. Some of them are Edgar Allen Poe, Janis Joplin, and Lord Byron. There is a lot of darkness in the play but the humor showed up very easily and well with the actors performing their roles.

With scripts in hand and working on a tiny stage, professional actors are hired and they read through the entire play. It was actually just like watching the play performed by actors without all the stage set-up and props. The actors hired fit the characters Jake had written perfectly. With minimal rehearsal, they did a fantastic job of acting out the play. After the play, they had an open session where the audience and the actors who wished to stay could critic and tell Jake what they liked and what they thought might improve the play. Jake got a lot of positive feedback and some helpful hints, which Jake took careful notes on. Claude and I were just thrilled with the play. It moved very well and we never lost interest in it. We were just very impressed and pleased with our son and his ability to write. He has done an excellent job with this play. Can't wait to see more come out of that talented young man. After the play, we drove back to Chelsea and thru the McDonald's drive-thru for a bite to take back to our hotel room. Then we sat up until 1:30am visiting with Jake. It was a most enjoyable trip and we felt so good about getting to be there for this experience in Jake's life. Jake...Ya Done Good!!!