June and Jorgy

     The month of June was almost totally committed to a production of  the play "Other People's Money"(OPM) at the Oldcastle Theatre Company in Bennington, Vermont.

      It's been a few years since I've been on stage, and it was great to be back at Oldcastle working with some old friends and making new ones. Fifteen or twenty years ago I was scheduled to play the role of William Coles in OPM.  That production had to be cancelled for some reason, which turned out okay for me as I was cast s Greg in Pete Gurney's play "Sylvia".  Aging into a part is something I hope I've done gracefully, as being cast a Jorgy put me in a part close to my actual age.
     It was a great cast to work with, and with Eric Peterson directing it was a very comfortable rehearsal period.  It was also a pleasure to work with Sophia Garder as stage manager.  I've worked with her before when she was acting in shows but this was the first time as stage manager. She did a very professional job. Here is Sophia with the infamous "Donut Wheel" which was a prop Paula and I had to use.

     The cast included Rick Howe(I can't count the number of shows we've done together), Paula Mann, Jenny Strassburg, and Paul Romero.  There was a special connection between cast members.  Paula and Jenny had worked together before at Dorest Theater Festival.  Both were great to play opposite.  Thanks to Jenny for putting up with my interchangeable use of "shareholders" and "stockholders", and to Paula for being such an interesting donut thrower.(Of course I was the one who threw a donut off a piece of the scenery and had a careen into the front row - Paula only bounced one there.)
     Paul Romero had a wonderful sense of humor and was a force as Garfinkle(the corporate raider).  His portrayal kept your attention throughout and he listened.  I love it when you know an actor is listening to you and not thinking about his/her next line.  He was a pleasure to work with.  Here is a  picture of him with Paula.

     This was my first appearance in a play in the new Oldcastle space in downtown Bennington.  It's an interesting place to perform in that the audience is so close.  I had a long monologue at towards the end of the play in which I had to address the audience.  I tried not to look at anybody I knew, but it was hard to avoid eye contact.  The theater has movable seating, which allows the company to do shows in the round if the want.  Our set had audience on at least one side and in front.. It makes you very conscious of body position as you perform - trying t stay open to a s many people as possible.

     It was a short run -only 10 performances, but very enjoyable.  We also got great reviews.(See http://oldcastletheatre.org).

Movin' On

    Since we moved to Durham almost 4 years ago, we have lived in a 3rd floor apartment.  Although the 4 years were not without issues(cigarette smoke wafting up from the apartment below - leaks in the closet - etc.), it was a nice place to live.

     The third floor location was, however, getting to be a pain, particularly when having to walk the dogs at 6 AM every morning.  To be totally truthful,  the morning shift is Nan's.  I would do the "before you go to bed" shift.  The other issue was sharing office space.   We converted a bedroom into a joint office, which proved problematic on occasions.  Anyway, we decided to look for a house with a fenced in backyard. This would allow us to open the backdoor and let the dogs out at 6 AM instead of taking them for a walk.  Our search was lengthy but wouldn't you know we found a place two blocks from our apartment complex.  It's probably bigger than we need, but we like the area.

     The only problem with the move was that the new house isn't available until August 1st.  This required us to put everything into storage for 2 months.  In essence then, we have two moves to deal with.  The first was bad enough.  Who knew we had accumulated so much in 4 short years.  We estimated 20 boxes and it turned out to be double that.  The moving company is Durham based and runs a storage facility as well.  It is actually operated as a not-for-profit using recovering addicts as employees.  They did a great job.

                                            
                                                                     BEFORE

                                                                         AFTER

     We completed the move around 2 PM, and then headed North for the summer.  To avoid rush hour around DC, we went the "back way" spending the night in New Market, VA.  That left about 8 hours back to AP.

Quick Trip North

     Early in April I applied to participate in the 24-hour theater festival sponsored by WAM Theater in Pittsfield and the Mop and Bucket Improv Group from the Capital District.  I was fortunate enough to be among the 20 or so actors selected for the event.  I drove up to Averill Park from Durham a few days before the event.  It was a gorgeous Spring day, and I came up the "back" way, I-81.  This route is always about an hour longer than using the I-95 corridor, but it is certainly more scenic and less hectic.
     The festival, which was originally planned to be held at the GE Theater at Proctors in Schenectady, had to be moved to Schenectady High School.  Located at that facility is the John Sayles Theater, which is a large "black box".

     The event started Friday night with a "meet and greet".  Several of my theater friends were also selected and it was great to see them.  The whole procedure is really interesting.  Here's how it worked.  When we arrived we put our names in a hat.  All the actors put their names in an actor's hat, the directors in a director's hat, the stage managers in the stage manager's hat, all the assistant stage managers  in the . . . well you get the picture.  The tricky part is that there were also 5 authors present.  The author's went first picking names out of the director's hat.  The authors also picked out of a hat that contained the numbers 3, 4, or 5.  These figures represented the number of characters that had to be in the play the author would be writing.

'     My name was pulled to participate in a play to be written by Kat Koppett and directed by Michael Burns(they are the co-founders of Mop and Bucket and just happened to be married - luck of the draw). Our play called for 4 characters, and I was joined by Brendan Cataldo, Dana Harrison, and Jacinthe Connor.  We were all interviewed by the playwright.  We discussed a bit about our backgrounds, characters we would like to play, and interests.  We then went home.
     By the time we returned at 9 AM Saturday, Kat had written a beautiful 20 minute play.  Using a physical similarity between Brendan and I(height, weight, and glasses), she crafted a story that was part "Its a Wonderful Life" and part "Topper". It used some of the information we had provided as part of the interview process. It was a creative piece of work that I found very moving.  Fortunately, we were able to use our scripts in the performance(although  Dana, Brendan, and for the most part Jacinthe were "off book".  I just didn't trust myself and I felt the material was good enough that it should be presented as written not paraphrased.  Anyway, many thanks to Rachel McEnany, assistant director, for words of encouragement when I got down on myself.
      My fellow actors were tremendous and really did great work.  It was a pleasure to have met and worked with them. The whole process was extraordinary - kudos to all involved.  A slideshow of the process can be seen at http://bigez.smugmug.com/Events/24-Hour-Theater-Project/29497847_NBK4V4#!i=2520692287&k=kxhPXgR
     While I was up North David and I played a little golf and picked-up a canoe given to us by our friends Chase and Mac.  Chase and Mac are in the process of selling their home in Hillsdale and when David and I went down to pick up the canoe their flowering tress were glorious.