2011 recap

Well let's just say it was an interesting year. Started off excited about 'Old Hickory' at Arts on the Lake with Blue Horse Rep and then my mother dying put that on hold. It was ultimately rescheduled for Halloween weekend, and then that got put on hold because of renovations at the theater. It may end up happening in 2012 . . . I'm happy to do it whenever we can.

Of course, not doing OH on Halloween meant I was available to do the Poe readings in Nyack, which was a huge treat. I got to read the Raven and found layers and layers in there, a real acting exercise . . . and I met and ultimately conspired with Richard Quinn who runs the Nyack Village Theater, where 'Old Hickory' will go up in February! Awesome!

Also, had a nice couple of readings of 'Like a Sack of Potatoes', first in the city as part of Woodstock Fringe's Voices of the Fringe, then at the Fringe Festival in Woodstock in August. It was well received both times (hoping to perform it this spring as part of One Man Talking, more on that when I know for sure).

This past spring also had me walking the tightrope with my solo piece 'The Red Hand of O'Neill' at One Man Talking. It was a real stretch but acting isn't acting if there isn't an element of danger to it, and this was way out of my comfort zone, so I attacked it and pretty much nailed it. I don't know if I'll ever perform this one again, but I don't think I could improve on it if I did. (of course if anyone asked me to do it I wouldn't hesitate to say 'hell yes').

In case you think solo pieces are all I'm about: I revved up Dead Authors again and it's a finalist for a competition in NYC at Terry Schreiber Studios; should know about that practically any day now . . . I took the play into the Fringe workshop this fall and heard it read for the first time in years . . . it was a great exercise because it made me look at the piece with fresh eyes and I made some changes, some of which were really hard to do . . . but it's a better play for the changes I think, or I wouldn't have made them.

I also entered several of my other plays in competitions, but they won't announce results until later in the spring.

All in all a pretty exciting year from the theater end of things. And not just my own! Seeing the Berliner Ensemble doing Threepenny was exciting and ending the year with John Hurt doing Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape were great reminders of what we want to be in theater for.

Didn't see much Broadway, though I have to say Mark Rylance in Jerusalem was special (and bumping into my old teacher Ed Morehouse at the show was a major treat!).

A lot to look forward to in the coming year . . . but I think that's a separate post . . . this one is a look back. It's all a work in progress. I guess that's how plays (and a body of work) mirror life . . . they continue to change and grow and they will never be 'finished' until I am . . . so more life to my plays and life and health to all of you . . . amazing to be part of it all!