Happy February to you! There was a lovely valentine exchange here.

TSC passed its budget for the coming fiscal year, which begins in July. It contains a number of exciting initiatives which will keep TSC on schedule in its strategic development of arts-in-education programming, new venue partnerships, singular and expanded performance opportunities, and professional staff growth. Passing this budget is a powerful endorsement of our efforts over the last two-and-a-half years and further emboldens us as a cultural and educational agent of change for the year to come.

Or, as our always-festively-attired Board Member and Gala Chairwoman Pat Smith might say, "We didn't get all dressed up for nothing, did we? Let's go!"

Also this past month, I have been fortunate to play audience to Susanna Perry Gilmore and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Michael Stern and his Iris Orchestra, the Brooks Museum of Art, Ballet Memphis, and the handcraft maestro Mimi Dann and her one-of-a-kind sculptural ceramics.

I felt enormously inspired in their presence and that of their work. They are artists who find the sacred in the everyday, even when the everyday may be troubling or, worse, bowed by crisis. The arts are not a diversion just because they are a form of entertainment. Functioning at their highest level, the arts reveal ourselves to ourselves. And when we are open, if only for a moment, there is the attack of insight which reminds us of the glorious gift and mystery that is our life together. Thank you, artists.

Much love,
Dan

In January our Board Member Nancy Copp put on quite a show at The Grove Grill for our first Much Ado Monday dinner. Over 130 of you joined us and sang out with verse (click here for photos), with 25 diners jumping up to perform Shakespeare's words. The evening was about playing, which is what we do with Shakespeare's text in the classrooms and in the rehearsal halls.

Our three guest Judges (State Senator Paul Stanley, Nancy Copp, and TSC Board member Margaret Tabor) selected the three finalists: Mr. Michael Terry, Miss Isabelle Azar, and Mrs. Olivia Bruce.

The most applause went to Mr. Michael Terry of Germantown! Mr. Terry won the crowd with a rendition of Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" speech. He received two tickets to TSC's fall production, a gift certificate to The Grove Grill, and he will be invited to back to perform at our Autumn Gala for a chance to win a walk-on role in TSC's fall show!

You get your next opportunity for great Memphis food, song, verse, and company on February 23 at The Blue Fish (click here to reserve your seat). Our Executive Director Frank Bluestein (who we are urging to play gameshow host again) and the dinner committee have another special Judge or two in mind for the night. We also have some big news of our own to announce! Please join us.

Our Board Treasurer Sheri Lipman has made many valuable contributions to TSC in the past year. One of the most extraordinary was the introduction she made to us of Marla Stuart, the Director of Internal Audits at the University of Memphis.

Marla, for the past year, has volunteered her evenings, weekends, and professional expertise to starting up our accounting system, creating monthly financial reports, and maintaining the books every week for us. She has created a system that we are now able to hand off professionally to Karen Martin, TSC's new bookkeeper.

Dear Marla: we are forever indebted to you for your generosity, good spirit, and meticulous initiative in getting us up and running. From our little non-profit heart, we thank you.

TSC is now hiring production personnel for our fall 2009 performance season. For more information, go to www.tnshakespeare.org, or click on the link below.