Dear Sarahjayne:

So it's August 7, I'm at work, and I'm excited about seeing Vaudeville at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse that evening. More specifically, I'm excited about seeing the performing wait staff in their first full-length musical revue in two years, and can't wait to write about my Bootlegger pals Jennifer Diab, Brad Hauskins, Tom Lawrence, Adam Michael Lewis, Amanda McGill, Liz J. Millea, Andrea Moore, Sara Nicks, Sunshine Ramsey, Jan Schmall, Bryan Spies, Rodney Swain, and, of course, Sarahjayne Snow.

And then, late that morning, Jan calls, and tells me that you just broke a leg.

On the day of the show's opening.

Sarahjayne, that is not the funny kind of irony.

For St. Ambrose University's forthcoming production of Crème de Coco - being performed at the Galvin Fine Arts Center from April 20 through 22 - the school recruited guest director Philip William McKinley to helm what will be the world premiere of William Luce's one-act play. During his area tenure, McKinley is also teaching an advanced acting course at St. Ambrose, and in a recent interview, the director explained why honesty is essential in eliciting the best work from performers:

"I think a lot of times, people tell them what they think they want to hear, rather than tell them what they really do need to hear. And if they know that you're telling them something to make them better, or for their own good, they're totally receptive to it."

That seems like a perfectly logical method for directing student actors. But, at this point in our conversation, McKinley wasn't referring to student actors. He was referring to Hugh Jackman.