The New "Normal?"

 2020, amiright?  

But as fun as it may be to simply ascribe all of our problems to the calendar year, the truth is, this is where we are.  It is up to you to vote it away.  Please vote!  

That was my public service announcement.  I will now continue to write about myself for the remainder of this blog.  Side note:  I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine recently about narcissism and the artist.  I don't think I'm a narcissist, and yet here I am with a blog about myself in the art and not necessarily the art in myself.  Perhaps technology and social media has made narcissists of us all?  Or maybe that's a cop out.  I don't believe that I am a narcissist (but what narcissist does?) but I know that I used to be at least that, if not a fucking dick.  Those who knew me in my twenties can probably attest to this.  My life is filled with many regrets and much shame.  Most of that takes place between the ages of 20 to 28.

But I digress writing about my past.  I'm here to write about me now.  (I'm still struggling with reconciling my self loathing with my narcissism).  So, without further ado, let's get to the reason I decided to blog tonight.  

-Partly it is because I am a bit overwhelmed by all that I have to do.

-I needed a break from all of those things, but my creative juices were still flowing.

-I have a lot going on all of a sudden and I'm excited to share it!

So, Shakespeare by the Sea is doing some virtual stage plays this fall!  And I am part of it.  I am actually under contract again (after being briefly laid off) to bring these things to stage (which will be streamed because that is the New Normal).  In the next few months, I will be Playing the titular (heh, tit) character in Titus Andronicus, and somehow choreographing fights with people mainly over zoom..  Then I will direct, and play a role in Measure for Measure.  (Because I am under contract, I don't count against the bottom line.  Talk about your necessary casting).  Plus I am collaborating on a screenplay.  

I have never done Titus, so it is exciting to dig into a play that I have very little knowledge of.  It is also pretty daunting.  Lots of words.  Very archaically written.  Very few rehearsals.  I'm freaking out a bit.  But in a good way.  In the way I used to freak out when we could all actually go to a theatre and rehearse a play.  It feels almost normal.

Measure for Measure I have done many times.  It was my first real big "professional" production.  I was part of Michael Kahn's 1991 production of it.  I was swing/understudy.  Which meant that I sat in the balcony every night studying all of the minor roles (who were all understudying larger roles) in case anybody couldn't go on.  Keith Baxter's Vincentio was absolutely delightful, and Phillip Goodwin's Angelo was perfect.  I couldn't help but watch them, even though I was being paid (actually paid) to watch nearly everybody else.  And I got to go on one night!  One of the actors had hurt his leg, and so they called on me to fill in.  I didn't have any lines in that part, but I got to share the stage with the best actors I had ever seen and I was pretty much in heaven!  The actor returned the next night.  The stage management team was very kind to me and said that he probably thought that I would "Wally Pipp" him and got better really quickly.  (Wally Pipp was the first baseman for the Yankees in the '20s who took a day off and then Lou Gehrig took his spot and played for the next 2000+ games without taking a missing a day).

I moved to Seattle the following year and immediately started working with some theatre companies there, including Greenstage.  I did a few shows with them and submitted myself to direct Measure for Measure.  I knew it backwards and forwards, having seen it nightly for months.  I thought I was smarter than Michael Kahn, and whereas he set it in a sort of fascist Germany, I decided to set it in modern day (the '90s) America.  I learned some valuable lessons from this endeavor.  Some good, others through failure.  But I was really proud of the work that was done.  

When I decided to move to LA, I told my friend Ed that I wanted to pitch Measure for Measure as a film.  He of course countered:  "Pitch to who?"  And so that took a backseat to just trying to survive and then make a career out here.  It wasn't until years and years later that I got that opportunity.  I directed a wonderful fellow who also happens to produce films.  He thought I was a great director and wondered what film ideas I had.  Measure for Measure jumped to my mind.  Over the last 6 years, I have been working on writing that screenplay.  Fortunately I have found some wonderful writers to write with me and we are close to having a finished script.  It's no longer really Measure for Measure, but also it really is.  

In those years between beginning writing and where we are today, I also had the chance to play the Duke in New American Theatre's "Measure for Measure."  I was a hot mess for much of it.  My best friend had just died and that whole year is sort of a blur.  (The last four years have been sort of a blur...a painful, slow, exhausting blur).  I was no Keith Baxter.  But, with the help of Jack, I found a lot in the play that I had never seen before.  And believe me, it went right into the script!  

Anyway, I'm super excited for the three artistic endeavors that are in my life right now.  I start zoom rehearsal for Titus next week.  I'm pausing a re-write currently of said screenplay to write this blog, as my brain was mush.  And I think by the end of this god-forsaken year, I will very likely be one of the foremost authorities on this little done "problem play" by Shakespeare. 

So, that's the rest of 2020 for me.  It sure beats the last six months.