October 2004 "Franciscan Tapestry" The idea for Living Miracle Productions began when the Secular Franciscan community of St. Boniface decided to do a full length musical on the life of St. Francis called "Franciscan Tapestry". This show was put on as a fundraiser though I think we actually spent more money putting it on than we took in in donations. But in the spirit of the Poor One we carried on. I played Brother Angelo, the singing monk. Rami Fodda and Ben Rosado took turns playing St. Francis. Doug Marshall played Sultan and Bro. Luchesius. Paul Seliga Directed. Anita Missin and Christine Morrison were the Producers. A packed house gathered in St. Boniface Theatre. The response was tremendous: A standing ovation from the crowd.

February 2005 "Smallest of All" Word of the success of "Franciscan Tapestry" spread to St. Thomas More where I was singing in the 8pm choir. Paul Malolot got wind of it and said "Hey, why don't we do a show here at STM?". Without hesitating I opened my big mouth and said "That's a great idea! I'll direct it." I NEVER directed anything before in my life. What was I thinking? Undaunted, I started scrambling around for scripts. OK...I was a little daunted, but I muddled on through anyway. Anita Missin handed me a copy of "Smallest of All", the story of St. Bernadette of Lourdes by Mother Mary Francis. I immediately fell in love with it. Then, taking a tip I learned from Anita, I took songs from the choir book and inserted them at the beginning and ending of each scene. Then at the suggestion of the St. John of God choir director I added "Song of Bernadette" by  Leonard Cohen as the grand finale. It was right off the Bette Midler album "Bathhouse Betty". "Smallest of All" was performed as a musical for first time at St. Thomas More. We opened on the 147th Anniversary of Lourdes February 11th 2005. We did 4 shows at STM and then three more shows at St. Boniface Theatre. Alexa Ortega played Bernadette. Doug Marshall played Louis, the blind miller who has his sight restored by Our Lady of Lourdes. Fr. Labib provided the funding for the project. Lynette Castiglione worked as Musical Director.

It was around this time that we bandied about the idea of forming a touring company. But what should we call it? My first thought was "How about St. Thomas More Players?". No, too religious, too serious sounding. We want people from other parishes and Non-Catholics to feel welcomed. And we also want to appeal to children. So my next idea was "St. Thomas More....St. Thomas More... More, More, More...Gimme More...Bingo!...How about Gimme More Productions?". I thought it was great. Fr. Labib and others didn't think it was spiritual sounding enough. My idea was to purposely keep it general because we may also want to do some secular material at some point. So for the first year we went around as Gimme More Productions.

March 2005 Fr. Labib invited us back for one more show for the St. Thomas More school children. 200 school kids showed up sitting arms length apart. I guess that was to keep them from talking to one another.

May 2005 "Smallest of All" performed one show at Laguna Honda Hospital. Jeannette Chafe took over the role of Louise, Bernadette's mom.

June 2005 "Smallest of All" performed three shows at St. Patrick's and three at St. Steven's. Alexandra Baranov played Bernadette.

December 2005 "A Tenderloin Christmas" With "Smallest of All" put on hold, Christine Morrison asked me to put together a Christmas play for St. Boniface and she said "it better be good!".  My first idea was to write a play about a modern day nativity. What if Jesus was born in the Tenderloin 2005 instead of  Bethlehem year 0? What would that be like? Some sort of Christian Sci-fi. But suffering from writers block, my creativity dragging, the deadline inching closer. Christine breathing down my back. I shelved that idea and just took the words right out of the bible, put them in script format. I added a few scenes of my own and about 6 songs from the choir book. And voila! "A Tenderloin Christmas" was born. Then Anita Missin tapped me on the shoulder and said "Hey Buddy, where's the dance number?" I said "Dance number?....What dance number?". She said "Well we got about ten 6th grade girls over at De Marillac Middle School and they gotta dance!" So...Ummm...OK...I put in a dance number. Sylvia Baeza volunteered to do the choreography and we were on our way. Lili Pigsley stepped in as Soloist. Her daughter Regina Pigsley played Littlest Angel. Leah Delamarter, & Graham Danzer played  Mary and Joseph. We did one show at St. Boniface Theatre December 3rd 2005.

February 2006 Back by popular demand. "Smallest of All" re-opened for six more shows at St. Boniface Theatre. Reya Hart played Bernadette. Sound effects provided by Reya's Dad, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. Thank You God!

Leah Garchik gives us a write up in the San Francisco Chronicle.