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The Rest is Silence

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 It's Friday night.  The show I directed is currently closing at Pt. Fermin Park.  I am not there.  I couldn't return to the literal scene of the crime.  Instead, I am experiencing FOMO.  When we opened, I told the cast that I was excited, not for that day, but for the day when this show returned from tour, all grown up, a bit beaten and battered, but mature and tight.  I was part of that cast.  Until tonight.  Last night, I took my final bow with SBTS at SOKA University in Alisa Veijo.  I played Toby one last time, with my Illyrians.  I didn't want to make it about me, but Steph had different plans.  She had flowers and champaign and a speech.  I wept a bit.  I hate not being at closing for these shows, and yet, I would have hated being there more, or rather would have been scanning the park for the guys who held me at gunpoint and beat me when I couldn't fight back.  But I am grateful to Greg D. and Jonathan fo...

To take arms against a sea of troubles

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Week two of tour is in the books.  It was filled with the normal SBTS tour problems, instead of the fucking terrifying, life-threatening, injury-inducing troubles we've encountered up til now.  Our sea of troubles this week included dangerous heat levels, broken stairs, lack of power, long driving distances, getting caught in sprinklers, and utter exhaustion.  So, pretty standard week two of tour. Wednesday, we drove to the center of the sun, or at least it was as far away and felt as hot.  Mission Viejo.  How do people survive in that heat?  I can't say, but I did notice that nobody but us was wearing Victorian era clothing.  The audience was lovely, and the show happened, and I think it was good.  We were pretty much in survival mode, so I can only say that I was good and didn't fuck anything up.  My carpool buddy, Tara, and I were planning to drive through Taco Bell after, but it was closed, which turned out to be a blessing, because we fo...

'Tis unmanly grief.

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The first week of tour is in the books.  It was filled with the usual problems we encounter, such as the first time we build the tour set (for both shows) takes forever and gets everybody hot and bothered, and settling in to an earlier call time and start time is an adjustment.   But it also is the first time we alternate between shows.  This is the first time I've actually acted in both shows for many years, and it took about two days into tour to remember just how tough it is.  Going to a different park every day (or being in the same park two days in a row and having to change the set) is challenging on so many levels.  One part of me is so proud of those of us in both shows (especially this year where we are all really showing the most extreme parts of our acting range), but the other part of me is already exhausted thinking about the next three weeks. Plus, I'm dealing with the PTS. (It's sort of strange, knowing that there are more people reading this blog...

O, Wretched State! O, Bosom Black as Death!

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 I don't really have much to say about the plays.  They are both gorgeous and wonderful.  This should be the headline of this season.  And, to be honest, the reason I came back to direct and act in one show while also acting in Steph's show was because I was very much committed to making this season the best ever.   Lisa Coffi did an amazing thing in creating this festival.  Now that she is retired, I felt a need to do all I could to make sure SBTS survived.  Not only survived but thrived.  And on that count, we are great! This may very well be the best season we've ever had.  The last time we did Hamlet, we also had a great Midsummer, that may give this season a run for its money.  Our Tempest/As You Like It season was also fantastic.  But this really may be the best season of Shakespeare by the Sea we've ever had.  And I am so happy to be a part of it. But I'm a mess.  Since the attack, I'm fucking broken.  Not...

Hath given Sir Toby a bloody coxcomb

 After rehearsing Hamlet last night, I was headed to my car in the parking lot across the street. I was slipping out a few minutes early because the crown had given me a headache ("heavy is the head..."), and as I was crossing, I saw a group of 4 young people who just walked past the parking lot.  I did the usual safety assessment.  It was two guys and two girls, and they were chatting.  In my hand I held a tote bag with my heavy metal water bottle, so I had a weapon in the unlikely case I was attacked.  I swung the gate open and heard the group grow silent.  So, I sped up my pace toward my car. I heard the running of feet on the concrete behind me, and I turned to face them.  There were two young men in hoodies, and I said don't.  The one to my right pulled out a gun (some sort of automatic, with either a silver or grey barrel).  The math in my head changed at that moment.  If I swung on them with my makeshift flail, I would have been s...

This is Illyria

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  Hello, four loyal readers.  Sorry for the delay in the follow up blog, but I may have bit off a bit more than I can possibly chew or digest this summer.  Fortunately, I have an incredible team that is helping me tear all the meat off this bone and suck out the sweet marrow of this play.  Anyway, violent meat metaphors aside, I have a day off today and we start tech for Twelfth Night tomorrow, so I thought I'd check in and introduce you to Illyria. The photo is from the load in day at Pt. Fermin Park, and captures the beautiful set designed and constructed by the amazing Chris Beryies.  It also features some of the citizens of this beautiful island.  From left to right (or stage right to stage left, if you are so inclined), there is Trevor who plays Orsino, and even sitting down I think he's taller than me. Peter who plays Feste the fool, and also just happened to write all of Feste's songs in his free time.  Brendan who inhabits Andrew Aguecheek in t...

What Country Friends Is This?

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  "But you said Twelfth Night is your cursed show." "I heard you swear you'd never do Twelfth Night again." Yes, these are both true statements.  But here I am just starting down the road to my 6th production of Twelfth Night. Do I know what I'm doing? Absolutely.  Am I excited? Hell yes!  Am I scared?  A little bit. Here's a brief look at my history with the brilliant play. I will start talking about this year in the next blog. For those of you reading for the first time, you should know that 90% of my blogs is just me unpacking my thoughts...but that other 10% is glowing love heaped on those I am lucky enough to work with.  -Greenstage Seattle (sometime in the early 90s). This was one of my home theatres when I spent four years in the rainy northwest.  I love those folks and am so glad they are still around doing what we did back then.  A wonderful director and actor was playing Malvolio in an indoor production of the play, but I was cast to tak...