2.9.15 Better Late Than Never

I'm going to try an alternate strategy: instead of writing a very long and thorough entry every five months, I'll try and write some shorter entries and actually update this thing.

Let's face it, the last one probably got a lot of TL;DR out of you short-attention spanned young rapscallions anyway. Didn't it? Didn't it?!

Phew, that got a bit weird. 

So the main reason that I haven't been updating is that I've been too busy with projects. Yes, I'm aware of the unfortunate irony there.

The Fall closed out with repertory productions of The Two Gentlemen of Verona by Billy Shakes and Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo. I had a blast on both projects (produced by Spicy Witch in New York City), and playing a large role in a contemporary play was a refreshing change from the parade of Shakespeare productions I've been in over the last five years. Here's a photo!

Whoops. Oh well. Don't worry, this is definitely the best thing to come out of both productions anyways:

At some point, we'll do a more professional recording, and I'll share that; this was recorded during a pre-show with an iPhone. I still think it sounds pretty great though!


Anyways, those two shows were wonderful, but they weren't closed even 24 hours before I had begun rehearsals on the current project, Bottoms Dream's production of The Ghost.

Termed by my roommate as "a Hambeth...or a Maclet!" The Ghost is a mash-up (a weaving, to use BD's term) of the texts of Hamlet and Macbeth to create an original story. The characters are largely preserved in name (I, for example, am playing Rosencrantz opposite Matt Castleman's Guildenstern), but altered dramatically in personality, text, and action.

I'm Evil! EVIL, I tells ya!

Besides the considerable fleshing out of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, audience members will probably most notice that the part of Ophelia (played by Caitlin White) is less waify-puddle-of-water and more sass/commonsense/ass-kicker in this go-round. A new Ophelia for the 21st Century!!

It's definitely been a strange process creating a contemporary piece out of the skeletons of two very old and well-known Shakespeare plays, but now that we're into performance I'm really starting to appreciate how exciting it is to show people something new with the same language I've always loved.

I admit, this review didn't hurt either:

http://www.theaterinthenow.com/2015/02/review-bloodbath-for-ages.html

Once The Ghost is over, I have to start preparing for March, when I'll be flying out to Clarksville, Tennessee to play Angelo in Roxy Regional Theater's production of Measure for Measure!

More on that later, though. I hope you'll all come out to see The Ghost! More information/tickets here:

https://www.artful.ly/bottoms-dream/store/events/4936

Woo! Ok, that ended up being fairly long anyways. Love to all, and thanks for reading!

J