AWOL for a bit

It's not like I've not had anything to report . . . it's just that who has time for updates . . . sorry to anyone looking to follow.

Happy Days is going very well. It's a lot of work especially for Bette, but it's gonna pay off in spades. The tech team is all in place; and they are all people who worked on Old Hickory six years ago! How cool is that. The set designer is going to have much more to do this time around that's for sure. We met with him after rehearsal on Sunday and talked about his ideas .. . he owns a lovely place in the Catskills and we met in a room with windows on three sides all overlooking mountains . . . it was the most striking room I've ever been in . . . absolutely beautiful.

We're doing full weekends every weekend up in Woodstock and then on August 1 we move up there for two weeks. It won't be play time but it is going to be an unforgettable experience . . . and how do I know that? Because it already has been!
It's almost exactly a year since we started this baby and we're kind of at that stage where it seems like it'll never end, but it's going to get real crazy now as time accelerates and we get there before you even blink . . . or that's how it will seem.

Can't wait.

I sent something off to a competition in Chicago. They wanted plays under the theme 'Killer Instinct' so I sent my solo piece (which until yesterday didn't have a name) about the guy who leaves his love in bed while he goes to buy bread and wine . . . only we find out she is chained there . . . and when he gets home she has escaped! Anyway, I called it The Rumpled Man and sent it off. We'll see what happens.

Still thinking about new pieces . . . things are starting to fall into place, but more on that later (possibly much later).

Ciao for niao.

June update

Here we are in early June. Hard to believe that in two months we'll be rehearsing in Woodstock full time, leading up to an August 11th opening!

Pretty exciting stuff indeed. Wallace worked his ass off last weekend on posters and mailers, and they look phenomenal. Tickets are on sale and people are buying them so, while we have a ways to go yet I'm sure it'll be here before you know it.

I called the props master at Yale Rep the other day to pick her brain about some of the technical aspects of the show. She was incredibly helpful and would have stayed on the phone as long as I wanted to talk . . . very nice lady. I asked about what they were doing with the props, but they are boxed up awaiting word on a possible move into the city. I'm guessing that if they weren't spoken for Jen (the props master) would have let me borrow what I needed, but so much for that! That production deserves the move. Diane Wiest was excellent and the overall production values were top notch, which I guess is what you'd expect from one of our better regional theaters. It would be interesting to know if they were planning/hoping for a move; that's a big expectation for the play, but with Wiest playing Winnie that sure don't hurt. Good for her if they do it. It's first class all the way.

Last year's production with Tony Shaloub and Brook Adams was a travesty so maybe NYC is hungry for a good production.

I don't see how that'll impact our production. People who don't want to shlep into the city to see it won't have to, and our production will rock on its own merits.

Ideas are popping for me from a writing standpoint. I now have landed on one of my older, unfinished plays that I liked the idea of but could never really pull off . . . I had an idea for it today that might add something pretty stunning to the mix . . . so it's something I'm gonna have to start working on in the coming days/weeks.

This weekend we are going to Woodstock for an early rehearsal on Sunday, and the weekend after that we are starting to go up for overnight weekend long rehearsals. Then August 1 off we go!

It is going to be a dynamite summer! And the doggies are gonna love Woodstock (and Wallace and Scott are gonna love our mutts!)