Red Rose

Tonight, we open the First Part of Henry VI at the Shakespeare Tavern. It's an incredible undertaking. To sit in the house after our preview last night, you would have thought we had a small audience. We were spread out a bit, but there's just a lot of people involved in this project.

I'm happy to be one of those people involved. I'm enjoying my time as Somerset. He's very different from anyone I've played on the Tavern stage, so it's good that I'm not getting plugged into a precise slot just yet. Unless that slot is "Hot Young Lord"...which...you know...

After the show opens tonight, there's going to be a party. I'll talk more about that at a later date, I'm sure. I have few goals for this party, but I at least want to play some Rock Band and watch Paul Hester dance.

It's been pretty quiet on the audition front, which isn't bad, exactly. I'm still looking around and trying to be as available as possible. I actually got to hand out one of my cards today to someone who came into my day job! Only 485 left to go.

If you haven't been able to get out to the Tavern to see my stuff, but you would still like to see me make a fool out of myself, you should go check out the Kidstuf website. I'm at the Buckhead campus, if you want to delve in. I'm even in the opening page video now. I find that when I don't have a script to follow, I dance a lot.

Come see Henry VI! My unofficial diagnosis is that, IF you can only see one (which, it goes without saying, you should try to come see all three), I think you should come see Part II. Just my opinion. Also, I fight in it. Yay!

Yeah!

Ahhh...the worst is over. Things are slowing down for the upcoming week (only 58 hours of stuff to do this week as opposed to 66!) and I don't see me having a week as hectic as that for a bit. We're about to slow down on Henry rehearsals for the month of September and when we come back to it in October, I won't be doing the rep. Not to say that I will be happy to NOT be doing the rep. I'd just as soon get paid for acting as often as possible, thank you very much.

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Speaking of Henry VI, we've rehearsed and blocked Parts one and two. It's really amazing how quickly we work at the Tavern. The idea of putting up three plays with ABOUT two months of rehearsal is daunting, but in a good way. I like for us to do stuff that's phenomenal like that.

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I've got some audition opportunities that I'm really excited about in the next month or so. All Shakespeare! How thrilling! I'll let you know more as more develops.

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Thanks to the unending generosity of Mr. Jeff Watkins (castmemore), I'm going to be able to head to Florida at the end of October to attend a close friend's wedding! Man, I love that state. I know it's silly, but I'm just crazy about that fake Disney aesthetic.

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Hey, I'm on Twitter, and like all social networking gadgets, it's not very fun until more people are on my "Following" list. So, you know, add me. I'll add you. It'll be good.

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I'm going to try REALLY HARD to go see Lord T and Eloise tonight. Also, I'm just crazy about the most recent Mates of State album.

Let's call this halfway...

At the end of a long day at work, nothing quite like settling down to listen to some Bonnie "Prince" Billy on a rapidly deflating air mattress and blogging to keep you folks updated.

So, the update...

- We shot the stuff for Kidstuf! I just realized I'm going to be MORE busy with them than I initially planned, but that's great. I actually really like everyone I've been in contact with. I hope my cast is a great as all of the regulars I've been working with so far. We shot a couple of scenes for the show and one for the website. I don't want to ruin anything for anyone, but I will say that one involved about two pounds of candy corn and is, literally, the grossest thing I've ever done in the name of performance.

- We also had the first of a couple of big rehearsals for Henry VI today with another coming tomorrow. I was knocked over a bit when we changed characters in medias res. I'm no longer playing Iden in part two. It appears I'll just be playing Somerset throughout. Which ain't bad. I like Somerset. He's got a...clear vision. BUT...I'll probably go ahead and use the resumes that I've already printed out...

It's going beautifully, though. I'm so proud to be a part of it.

- While my girlfriend was in town, we went to Center for Puppetry Arts, since the little lady is a big fan of Jim Henson. I'm sure we'll go back once the Jim Henson wing opens properly. Anyway, saw the Ugly Duckling while we were there. Super cute. And, you know, educational. The museum was interesting too, but the room filled with puppets that would randomly move...it set sort of a weird, foreboding mood for the rest of the time in that area. Creepy, in it's own right.

Tomorrow we've got another big, long rehearsal and, wonder of wonders, my first chance to go work out! I'm so happy about that. I miss working out when I go too long without it.

"When you get your flock together, please take me along. Lord, I'm too weak to travel. I'll be glad you're strong and I'll lean on your arm."

I won't feel no fear, 'cause I'm not really here...

It's been a busy week. An incredibly busy week, actually, between acting and my day job. For the record, if you're standing in a store while the power is out to wait twenty minutes to buy a 1 cent pencil sharpener, you're wasting precious moments in your life. Just saying.

- I had Kindergarten Konfidential first at Buckhead Church, which was my first basic exposure to the world of Kidstuf. It was a good time. I was confused at first, trying to find out where to go, but it ended up being a good first experience. Everyone was super nice and accommodating. Those kids are a tough crowd, man. I don't know if my subtle political satire is going to reach them. I think they liked me enough. But, for the record, there's nothing more intimidating than a five year old standing alone at the foot of the stage, looking at you like you're a total idiot.

- We also started rehearsal for Henry VI. What a huge project. There were twenty four people in the room. We will, of course, have more people join us, including apprentices and folks in the later plays. A couple of people brought up that it felt like the first day of school. I know it felt that way for me. After being gone for a month, it was good to be back in the building. Also, as Somerset, I love that, in my time on stage, I'm going head to head with Maurice Ralston. Seriously, he's such a great, sharing actor on stage. I couldn't be luckier in that respect.

- The next two weeks are going to be busy. The girlfriend is coming into town, we're reopening Much Ado and Twelfth Night. On top of Kidstuf video shoots. On top of Henry rehearsals and learning lines. On TOP of other auditions (Yay for later in the year calls from Unifieds!). I feel like a busy little actor right now. Always down to be busier though...

- There's actually an audition up on Atlanta Performs that I would LOVE to be able to be involved in, but it conflicts with the remounts, and I'm not giving up any chances to play Claudio. It's a call for Edmund in Long Day's Journey and, man, what a pleasure that would be. Plus it's in Florida, which, if you didn't know, is a place I've lived before and want to live again. Granted, I'm more of a fan of Central Florida, but still... I've actually been listening to the new song by The Streets quite a bit because it reminds me of my time in Florida.

- On a personal note, I'm ridiculously excited about many of the games coming out in the next couple of months. I mean, there's the sort of higher concept stuff like Fable 2 and Fallout 3, where decisions have consequences and life can change in the blink of an eye, and then there's the ridiculous sports stuff like TNA Impact and Blitz: The League II. Fun!