I ran into Brian Allen, co-founder and artistic director of Good Theater, at Sunday's final performance of "Is There Fat in That?" at the St. Lawrence Arts and Community Center.

Many theater and performance venues are fearful of the economy, quite naturally. They are worried that people will stop buying tickets, cutting out discretionary expenses from their budget altogether.

But so far this winter, that has not played out at Good Theater. Allen told me that he sold every available ticket for "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Forum," which ran for 18 performances over four weekends, and for "Is There Fat in That?" which played for five performances over one weekend.

Both shows were at the St. Lawrence, which seats 100 people. That means that over the course of five weekends, Good Theater had 23 sold-out shows, or 2,300 tickets sold. Actually, that number could be a tad higher, because Allen was accommodating everyone he could be seating people in the window wells when appropriate.

I had the great honor of speaking at the Scholastic Art Awards this past Saturday, hosted by Heartwood College of Art in Kennebunk. The annual awards honor exceptional work in grades 7 to 12 in the visual and literary arts nationally, and the event on Saturday focused on winners in the visual arts category from Maine.

Typically, I would not shine the spotlight on myself. But I have had a number of people ask me for a copy of my remarks. With great humility, they are posted below.