Of course . . .

Now that I decided to blog about activities theatrical this year, for the first time Wallace had to cancel our rehearsal yesterday because he was unwell. So Bette and I ran lines for a large chunk of Act One of Happy Days. The poetry of this play knocks me out every time I read it. The rhythms of the writing are very specific, which makes Bette's job that much harder, but add to the beauty. I'm having fun with the slightly off kilter Willie, he adds much to the piece and it's a blast to be working with these two on this masterpiece.

It's great to have this kind of artistic collaboration in my life. Bette and I work very well together and Wallace just means so much to me, and it's a gift for him to seek out my/our company. This is the third play I've worked on with Wallace since 2010. First was Old Hickory, which was a life changing/affirming experience, opening the Fringe festival in Woodstock that year; then came Wallace's play It Can't Happen Here, also with Bette and now Happy Days . . . it's a thrill ride no doubt about it.

In other news of the week, I finally friended Jerome Davis at Burning Coal. I don't know why I hadn't thought to do that before. I met Jerry doing The Trip to Bountiful years ago, and at the time he was scouting around for places to start a theater . . . and he found it in the Raleigh/Durham area. In 1999 he gave me a heck of a lift in producing a staged reading of my play Damage Control. It was my first public reading of the play (or of any of my full length plays) and it meant a lot to me. Kind of lost touch with him over the years, emailing on occasion but otherwise everybody living their lives.

More as it happens.

I'm Baaaccck

Decided this might be a pretty good year to take to the blog again. It looks to be a busy one on the theater side of things: I have a performance of 'Like a Sack of Potatoes' in the city in March (pending seeing the actual agreement I am expected to sign) and Samuel Beckett's 'Happy Days' in the beautiful Byrdcliffe Theatre in Woodstock in August! Add to that returning to my new play, which scares me a bit because of the ambition of it, but that's reason enough to stick with it I think. I'm hoping to present some or all of it as a reading this spring in NYC at the Voices of the Fringe. So all in all 2016 is shaping up to be a busy and fulfilling year!

Y'know . . . all these people dying too young (Bowie, Alan Rickman) is enough to slap a person around and wake them up. But I don't have to go that far afield to be reminded of that; my brother's fourteen year fight with ALS was wake up call enough.

I love a column I read today by David Brooks. In it he quoted Van Gogh: "I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart." Those are words to live by.

I've written a bunch of plays in the last few years, (I have twelve full length on my resume but that doesn't count ones I haven't had readings or some level of activity with) none of them have been produced but that's ok. You do it because you do it. Every step of the way leads to the next one. So here's to an exciting year . . . and I hope to post on a semi regular basis!