LB THEATRES WILL COLLABORATE…WHEN MARLON DELEON FINDS RIGHT DATE
By Dave Wielenga
Marlon DeLeon is the facilitator for the Long Beach Theatre Arts Collaborative (LBTAC). The organization is composed of representatives from the city’s various theatre companies with the intention of working together to strengthen the local theatre community.
Before any of that collaborating and strengthing can strengthening can occur, however, somebody’s got to find a place and date and time for the representatives to meet. As everybody who’s ever been that somebody knows, that ain’t easy.
Early on Tuesday morning, Marlon DeLeon composed an invitation to the next LBTAC meeting. To underscore the need for this get-together, he include a tentative agenda. To underscore it a little more, he tactfully noted that almost two months have passed since the last LBTAC meeting. Then he posed this question:
Between the next two Monday evenings—September 19 and September 29—which would be most-convenient for the LBTAC representatives to convene?
DeLeon e-mailed the invitation on Tuesday morning at 7:20 a.m. Here are the responses:
From Dennis @ 7:25AM:
19th is good for me. 29th is not (which by the way is a Thursday not a Monday).
Thanks for keeping us on track, Marlon.
From Marlon @ 7:33AM
CORRECTION: “Monday, Sept 29th” should read “Monday, Sept 26th”
Thanks!
From Dennis @ 7:43AM:
OK…either of those Mondays do work for me…
From Paul @ 8:21AM:
Sorry, rehearsal starting at 6 PM that day. Won’t be able to make it.
From Eric @ 12:30PM
Either Monday works for me. I may be a little late coming from work but will do my best to be on time.
From Jessica @ 1:32PM
I cannot make the meetings on Monday nights, because I play violin in a Baroque ensemble at CSULB during the school semester. I may be able to make it if it is at the Long Beach playhouse and I leave early.
From Michelle @ 2:50PM:
As of now either Monday works for me…my work schedule only goes a week out so I won’t know for certain until later this week. Mondays in general work for me better than any other day. 
Looking forward to seeing you all who make it again!
From Lucy @ 3:06PM
I have classes from 1pm-10pm on Mondays. Yay! Boo! 
Hopefully our new External Affairs Bod can do it…
From Lauren @ 3:54PM:
I can’t do either of those Mondays, but this is kind of a fluke. 5:30 and Mondays work well for me as long as it’s not the 4th Monday of the month (board meeting). We could still provide space if needed, though if it’s the 26th, that could prove challenging. Thanks! Looking forward to talking more about what we can accomplish together.
From Victoria @ 5:24PM:
Sorry I won’t be able to make the next meeting. I’m going to be in England for awhile. I’ll be in touch when I’m back.
2 Comments
Hello Greater Long Beach readers,
After skimming through the article, I was little irked at the publishing of it, but when I read it again, I remembered that Dave was courteously included on the email thread.
After reading it again, I’d like to point out a few things:
1. I don’t capitalize the “L” in “Deleon” as you have listed.
2. “Dennis” is incorrectly written as well, as it should be “Denis”
3. Yes, there has been some discussion about when and where this next meeting should occur, but I feel that a continuous dialogue among the group should occur to best fit the needs of the majority. Going into this LBTAC endeavor, we knew very well that our schedules were hectic and that it would be quite a challenge to coordinate.
4. I take personal responsibility for the unintentional two-month hiatus from our monthly meetings, as my part-time job became a full-time job over the summer and some of the voluntary work I was doing (such as LBTAC) got pushed to the wayside. This should not serve as an indication of discouragement, but moreso a reminder that what many of us do in the theatre is a voluntary vocation. Many (if not all of us) have full-time day jobs to support ourselves, and LBTAC is voluntary and unpaid (in money).
Thank you, Dave for the publicity, and if anyone else wants to know, please visit the LBTAC Facebook page or email me at askLBTAC@gmail.com for more info.
Lastly, it looks like the meeting will be this coming Monday, the 19th, but I’m sure you’ll see that in the email thread.
Cheers!
Marlon D Deleon
LBTAC Facilitator
askLBTAC@gmail.com
A Shakespeare, or anyone close, comes around once every 25 generations or so?