A week from today I will have just finished up taking pleasure in watching ESU Theatre Department's production of Urinetown. It's their homecoming and every year they invite my Grandfather back to the annual homecoming musical, a rich tradition at Emporia State University. I have attended I'm guessing more than 50 of my grandfathers plays some of them I don't actually recall as I have been attending since birth. I do in fact have some very vivid memories of my first live theatre moments, very found memories, moments that changed my life. After the production my Grandpa Fred, as we call him, would give us a tour of the set and we got to see down into the orchestra pit and even got to meet the actors, producers, stage hands, make-up artists, costume designers and even the musicians. I am more than excited to see this show and to see my Grandpa. He lives in Salt Lake City and I live in Oklahoma so we don't get to see each other very often although we have always stayed connected. He used to write me letters about his productions, send me the play scripts to some of them even. I enjoyed reading through them and would imagine the story in my head. One of my favorites was The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. I still have that one honestly and I want to say he sent me the script for this play we are about to see Urinetown by Greg Kotis but I am not sure that I still have that one or I may have read his copy while staying with them one summer. We used to visit SLC each summer for two weeks, those weeks are full of a lot of Wonderfull memories as well. I want to approach him about working on a biography, I want to go on and on in this blog post about the little details of his time at ESU and if I remember right it was a beautiful 27 years although his career literally only ended like 3 years ago, that's me guessing again. I don't want to guess about it I want to know dates and times and even more details than I even already know and I want to record these conversations and turn them into art. I truly believe he's lived such an amazing life it should be captured and shared. All of it, even the darkest moments. He's wonderful and I just can't wait to see him in a week. He's really an inspiration.
Check out this link to view the Theatre named after him. I don't think that this production will take place there, usually this one is bigger and they do it at Albert Taylor Hall. The picture below is my brothers and I with our Grandpa Fred the night they officially opened it.
A picture of my Brothers and I with our Grandpa Fred at the Celebration and Ceremony of the opening of the Ronald Q. Frederickson Theatre in January of 2001, coming up in January of 2022 it is the 21st Birthday of this beautiful Black Box Theatre.
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