Family Finances: What to Do When Times Get Tight by Mike Broemmel

One of the most stressful situations that can rip at the fabric of family life is a financial problem. Indeed, tight finances probably ranks after death and illness as the most challenging circumstance that a family potentially can face. Indeed, a family financial problem can lead to a frayed family unit and even physical and mental health issues within the family, according to WebMD.

The best way to address a challenging financial situation as a family is to address it head-on, to take a proactive stance in dealing with the problem. Taking this tactic necessitates an honest assessment of a family's finances and real, concrete actions to alleviate the financial problem.

Tangible Cuts Must be Made

Time and again when families face a situation when money is tight, lip service is made to making cuts in spending, but those reductions never materialize. If any type of cutting does occur, it typically is so minimal that it had a negligible if any real impact.

Every family has expenditures that can be eliminated. The cuts may seem painful at first, but allowing a more significant financial problem to develop will prove to be more traumatic in the long run.

Cable or satellite television should always be on the chopping block when a family faces financial difficulties. Depending on the level of television service, a family can save somewhere in the neighborhood of $600 to $1,200 over a six-month period without cable or satellite television.

Make a Budget for Real

Another area in which families with financial issues chat about is preparing a budget in writing. As is the case with making tangible cuts, this rarely occurs.

Having a written budget is crucial for a family in financial distress. It provides a family with accurate information about where money is being spent and where cuts can be made. A written budget is also an invaluable planning tool when it comes to the family's short- and long-term financial needs, goals and objectives.

Curtail Credit Card Usage

Oftentimes a family facing financial difficulties turn to credit cards to "buy" some breathing room. While the use of credit cards may make members of family feel a sense of relief, the fact is that taking advantage of these debt-generating instruments really only makes the financial situation worse.

A family cannot wisely utilize credit cards as a means of obtaining financial relief, even when couched in terms of providing temporary relief. Indeed, more often than not, stopping credit card use is a necessary step in stabilizing a family's unsettled financial status.

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Theatrix USA Rounds Out 2016 on High Note by Paul Sheridan

Founded in 2012 as a project of the Center for Innovation, Theatrix USA heads into the final months of 2016 marking its most successful year yet. Theatrix USA partnered with Act One Productions to bring a series of experimental, and highly successful, one-actor plays to the stage. The productions are:

Taking Tea with the Ripper
The Hours of Anne
The Bonfils Girl
La Primera Mujer: The True Story of Eva Peron

Each of these plays won audience acclaim and played to full theatres throughout the year.

Taking Tea with the Ripper by Mike Broemmel

An evening having tea with one of the most infamous serial killers of all time: Jack the Ripper. Taking Tea with the Ripper takes you through the night in which the Ripper slays his first victim. The most disturbing play of 2016 … but, in a spectacular way.

The play stars award-winning actor Paul Escobedo and is directed by Ashley Gibbons.

The Hours of Anne by Mike Broemmel and Seth Holley

The Hours of Anne chronicles the final day in the life of Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII and the first to be beheaded. We sit with Anne during her last hours in the Tower of London. The play begins with Anne at the block and the remarkable speech she gave at that time. Was she put to death in a just manner for defying the English monarch? Or, was she a heroic innocent killed to satisfy the lust of Henry the VIII?

The play stars Sarah Woodyard and is directed by Ren Manley.

The Bonfils Girl by Mike Broemmel and Seth Holley

Frederick Bonfils was a down and dirty businessman in the days when Colorado was still a part of the proverbial Wild West. Frederick founded the Denver Post -- as well as gambling casinos and (some say) houses of prostitution. Frederick fathered two daughters, the younger being Helen.  Helen would achieve amazing success in the early part of the 20th century in her own right -- including being the first female producer on Broadway and taking the reins as publisher of the Denver Post among other achievements. Helen Bonfils always felt she lived in her father's shadow. The Bonfils Girl brings Helen to the stage, reflecting on the ins and outs, ups and downs (and maybe a few vices) in her life.

The play stars veteran actor Cathy Washburn and is directed by long-time entertainer Rich Beall.

La Primera Mujer: The True Story of Eva Peron by Mike Broemmel and Seth Holley

La Primera Mujer tells the tale of the former Argentine First Lady, Eva Peron, who garnered international renown during her lifetime and gained further recognition in the 1980s as a result of the widely-acclaimed musical Evita. However, this is very different from the musical.  La Primera Mujer tells the true story of Eva Peron … and it’s completely different from the one told by Andrew Lloyd Webber in Evita. Despite the portrayal in "Evita," Eva Peron was neither a social climbing whore or a money grubbing thief. Rather, she was a complicated woman committed to reaching out to the poor of her nation. Witness her story of taking the helm of a country through the majestic power of her voice.

The play stars Maggy Morgan and is directed by Ian Henson.

In addition, Theatrix USA and Act One Productions have one more play slated for the stage in 2016, a one-actor project focusing on the life of screen legend and brilliant inventor Hedy Lamarr. The play has yet to titled. Actor Cathy Washburn, the star of premiere production of The Bonfils Girl, is working on the Lamarr script with Broemmel

During most of 2016, Theatrix USA was headed up by Seth Holley, a producer who oversaw the successful production of the four original plays that premiered during the year. He also saw the special production of Taking Tea with the Ripper and The Hours of Anne in the historic Jayhawk Theatre in Topeka, Kansas.

Mike Broemmel returned for another year on the Theatrix USA team, writing the script for Taking Tea with Ripper and co-writing The Hours of Anne, The Bonfils Girl and La Primera Mujer: The True Story of Eva Peron with Seth Holley.

Theatrix USA is focusing on producing its plays at three venues in Denver: Namastage Theatre on Old Pearl Street and the 910 ARTS Center in Skylite Station in the Santa Fe Arts District.

Theatrix USA and Act One Productions also launched the Iconic Women Theatre Series in 2017, a project created by Seth Holley and Mike Broemmel. The Iconic Women Theatre Series focuses on the life stories of women who have not received their public due … including Anne Boleyn, Helen Bonfils, Eva Peron, Hedy Lamarr and Myrlie Evers.

Theatrix USA has announced its 2017 season, which will include the premiere of two new, original plays: Escort Me in March and River’d Inn later in the year. Goddess People will return to the stage in Denver in June.

In addition, Theatrix USA, together with Act One Productions, will bring the final play in the Iconic Women Theatre Series to the stage in early 2017. That play is entitled Call Me Mrs. Evers and tells the story of civil rights leader Myrlie Evers.

The trio of plays in the Theatrix USA 2017 season each combine humor and pathos to tell stories of real human beings in challenging situations:

Escort Me by Mike Broemmel and Tony Sutera
Goddess People by Mike Broemmel
River’d Inn by Mike Broemmel

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Playwrights Bring First Female Broadway Producer Alive: The Bonfils Girl Strikes a Nerve by Paul Sheridan

Mike Broemmel is no stranger to the world of literature and playwriting. Broemmel saw his first book published in 2001. Since 2008, he has seen about a dozen of his plays staged in theatres in different U.S. cities.

Broemmel teamed up with a newcomer to the theatre scene, Seth Holley, in writing The Bonfils Girl, a play the chronicles the life and times of Helen Bonfils. Miss Helen, as she was known during much of her adult life, is a stranger to most people – but she should not be. Helen Bonfils was the first woman to head up a major daily newspaper in the United States. She was the first female producer on Broadway. And, in the 69^th year, Miss Helen married her 28-year old chauffer, who she fell in love with while her husband lay in his deathbed.

A native of Denver himself, Broemmel was raised in Helen Bonfil’s hometown. “I knew the name as a child, I came to know the name a bit more in the past decade,” Broemmel remarked. “I attend Holy Ghost Church in downtown Denver, a church that Helen Bonfils paid to build at the tail end of the Great Depression.”

In his gut, Broemmel believed that there was a story to be told about the building of Holy Ghost Church, and there proved to be one. In a nutshell, Miss Helen’s father was a major scoundrel on the Denver scene. Yes, he started the Denver Post. But he also owned houses of prostitution and gambling halls.

“Helen Bonfils was a Catholic. Catholics believe in something of a three-tiered system in the afterlife: Heaven, Purgatory and Hell. Helen made something of deal with God. In exchange for building a magnificent church in the heart of downtown Denver, she asked God to let her father slip into Purgatory to avoid the heat of hell,” Broemmel explained.

The story of the building of the church enticed Broemmel into beginning a script for a play about Helen Bonfils. “But, I really did not understand her. It was not until I partnered up with my co-writer on this project that I really came to appreciate what Helen Bonfils was all about. Seth Holley recognized right away that the story of Helen Bonfils was a tale about coming to terms with vices. Had Seth not been involved in the creation of the script, the play about Helen Bonfils would have been very different, and very wrong,” Broemmel said.

The Bonfils Girl had its world premiere run early in the summer of 2016. It was also one of seven plays featured in the 2016 Colorado Theatre Festival. The play stars veteran actress Cathy Washburn in the title role and was directed by Rich Beall.

“Although Seth and I are proud of our script, it is Cathy who brings Helen Bonfils alive. We had a couple of people in attendance on opening night that knew Helen Bonfils. They both agreed that Cathy Washburn got her spot-on,” Broemmel noted.

A special encore performance of The Bonfils Girl is slated for September 9, 2016, at the Lumber Baron Inn and Gardens. More information about the play, and about obtaining rights to produce the script, can be obtained by writing info@theatrixusa.org.

Seth Holley & Mike Broemmel

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Is Organic Wine Healthier and Tastier? by Mike Broemmel

Is Organic Wine Healthier and Tastier? by Mike Broemmel

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