Tomorrow we open in the city with Like a Sack of Potatoes. I picked up the programs today and they look great. We rehearsed tonight and it went acceptably well . . . as often happens though, the 'dress rehearsal' was a little soft, which doesn't concern me, and will no doubt feed me for tomorrow night. You just get to the point where you want to get this in front of people again.
The piece works, that much I know. In the readings and previous performances over the years, the response has always been very good. And in all honesty, the writing is so good that as long as I don't trip over the furniture it should hit the mark.
Aside from the fact that I wrote it and act in it, a lot of me is in the story. I spent time in the tobacco fields when I was a kid, I know the smell and the feel of that . . . I rode on top of the tobacco piled high on a flatbed wagon pulled by tractor to the barn . . . in fact the monologue that I wrote twenty some years ago, that got me into the show with Ellen Burstyn, that got me into Equity and led me to Nyack, was about my grandfather and experiences in the fields . . . it's in my DNA, it's who I am . . . so I really have to work to screw this up!
And I have no intention of screwing this up!
My only job is to go out there and leave nothing for later. I get the opportunity to perform one of my pieces in New York City. How cool is that. I guess you could take that for granted if you're from the area . . . but coming from where I come from, and harboring the dreams I harbored for so many years . . . it's a real gas to actually get to do this . . . it never ever gets old . . . I'm honored to represent for the hillbillies of the world . . .
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