Birthday Pictures 5

A couple of years ago, I got my first ship contract with The Second City.  Our first cruise was from Miami, through the Panama Canal and up to Long Beach, CA.  Our first port was Cartagena, Colombia. This picture is from one of my castmates:

"Since on the cruise ship we only got to see it during the day, here's
how it looks in the walled city of Cartagena at night.  I was there in
June and still traveling about Colombia."

Birthday Pictures 4

From a dear, sweet, talented and kind friend who did something very brave in moving to Chicago:

"Here's a photo of the Damen Blue Line Stop I took this past autumn. I chose this photo for you because I took a leap of faith by moving to Chicago in September 2012. I didn't have a job for three months after moving, and I was sleeping on an air mattress in a tiny 8x10 bedroom in Wicker Park. The Damen stop will always remind me of my big move to Chicago."

Birthday pictures 3

A picture and some travel advice from a friend.  Not sure if she knew this, but crispy cheese (what I call "cheese scab") is my favorite food of all time:


Here is a picture of a cheeseburger from Shady Glen. Manchester Connecticut (where I'm from) is known for three things:

1. Silk Worms
2. Being the retail capital of CT (all of the stores, all of the time)
3. Shady Glen cheeseburgers

If you were a theater kid growing up in Manchester (or any of the surrounding towns) you went to a post show dinner at Shady Glen. And if you weren't a sociopath, you ordered a cheeseburger (or a grilled cheese sandwich, but only if you were vegetarian/trying to impress a dude).

The trick to the Shady Glen cheeseburger is taking three to four slices of American cheese and cooking them on the burger so the cheese on the burger melts into the meat and the cheese on the side fries into this crisp halo of happiness. The result is nothing short of amazing/horrifying (but only when you think of what you're putting into your body).

I highly recommend it. IF YOU GO, DO NOT GO TO THE SHADY GLEN IN THE PARKADE. I cannot stress this enough.

Birthday Pictures 2

From my friend Thomas: "(T)his photo has given me great laughs (and still does). This is marketing! or the exact opposite of that...I took this photo in a Carrefour City grocery on the Rue de Faubourg St-Denis in Paris..."

Lady 'Gina, Rubyfruit Flavor. It's the pulpiest!

Birthday Pictures

On my birthday, I requested that my friends, acquaintances and perfect strangers send me pictures.  I love photography so very much and I love stories even more and have requested pictures and the stories behind them multiple times over my life.  I'm finally starting to go through my birthday presents and am sharing them now.

This is from an improvisor friend who said that he loved this picture of himself because it was an early indication of his love of play and creativity. Rock on, my friend.  Rock on.

Mary Poppins

At some point during every Christmas I spend at home, I inevitably pick up one or more Mary Poppins books and binge read.  This time, I was struck by a passage from Mary Poppins Comes Back.  In it, the newborn Annabel talks to a starling:


"I am earth and air and fire and water.
I come from the Dark where all things have their beginning.
I come from the sea and its tides.
I come from the sky and its stars, I come from the sun and its brightness.
And I come from the forests of the earth.
Slowly I moved at first, always sleeping and dreaming. I remembered all I had been and I thought of all I shall be. And when I had dreamed my dream I awoke and came swiftly.
I heard the stars singing as I came and I felt warm wings about me. I passed the beasts of the jungle and, came through the dark, deep waters. It was a long journey." - P.L. Travers

The starling chides her and says that she will never remember all of this as she grows.  No human can.  Sure enough, she forgets.  But at this closing of the year, as we assess our paths and map out our futures, let us all remember that we came from the Dark where all things have their beginning.  Let us all remember all we have been and think of all we shall be.  May we all feel warm wings about us.

Blessings

As an actor, I tend to have a flurry of shows that occupy my thoughts and take up a certain amount of energy.  The scripted shows have been painstakingly memorized and prepared for and the improvised ones have been dutifully orchestrated.  When I show up, though, I simply perform.  Somehow, the preparation, the struggle and the weight of everything is not foremost on my mind.  I just go to the theatre and do my job.

These last few days before my holiday break have shown me a different side of performance, though.  The side of the director and teacher.  I have three shows in three days where my role has been to prepare my cast to shine as bright as they can in front of standing room only crowds.  I have worked with each ensemble for months and these shows have been the culmination of their extraordinary dedication.  After last night's show, I was exhausted.  After tonight's show, I was exhausted.  After tomorrow's show, I expect to be annihilated.

What I didn't fully realize (until having three of these shows back to back) was how much I invest in each of the shows I direct/teach.  I live and die by every individual's performance on that stage.  When one of my cast/students have a "win" onstage, I celebrate.  When I see them before the show and their face says "I am scared," I agonize with them.  My job at these times is to make these brave actors ready for their journey to the stage.  I would sooner cut off an appendage than have one of my performers feel unsure.  If I somehow let a class/cast go onstage not feeling like they will OWN that performance, I have failed.

So, for the past few days, I've been totally wiped out.  I swear to god, I wouldn't have it any other way.