AWOL

Haven't posted in a long time. I don't have any easy excuses for the inattention on my part, but I have been quite busy lately.

First off, I've been spending most of my evenings at the theatre, with rehearsals for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Corn Stock. We opened last Friday night, and our run continues through Saturday the 3rd. I'll admit I was initially disappointed with the role I was offered, but the production has turned out to be a huge amount of fun. First, it's a sure-fire script with plenty of guaranteed laugh lines, and lots of opportunities to come up with funny bits and business. Our cast is almost uniformly exceptional. For my part, it's the first opportunity I've had to work with Dave Montague and Ed Peck, though I've known them for a little over a year, and run into them more than once at auditions. But now, seeing them every day and working on stage with them is an education in the craft of theatre. They both have impeccable comic instincts, and they're utterly delightful in their roles. I learn from just watching them. hope I get to work with both of them again. Chip Joyce, Jimmy LaHood and Josh Whitmore are the Proteans, and they're improvisational geniuses. Half the laughs in the show come from stuff they just made up in rehearsal. And it goes without saying that it's good to be able to work on a production with Madeline again, after we both spent the last year pursuing separate productions.

The only problem with the show is, it's exhausting. I don't have much to do in the first act, but once I go on, it's an hour of running around in fifteen pounds of leather armor, cape, sword and helmet. Once we got to where we were rehearsing every night, I found that I just didn't have enough energy to get through the show and my ordinary daily business. So, I'm on vacation this week, resting up for the show. That'll be nice in and of itself, and it should give me some time to take care of a few projects around the house. Who knows? I might even get to read a whole book!

Okay, probably not. But I can hope.