There's the humour of it. ~ The Merry Wives of Windsor

I’m embarking on a journey to discover a character. For the first time in over two years, I am taking on an acting role. The process of discovering what makes this person tick fascinates me—sometimes more so than the performances. And I use the term “person” because the character becomes very real to the actor—your new BFF sometimes. They kinda have to; you need to take ownership of them and their actions in order to play it with any truth. Actors use the pronoun “I “when discussing a scene: “What do I want from so-and-so in this moment?” “Am I supposed to give him the such-and-such now or later?”




I’ll be playing Nat, the mother of the female lead in David Lindsay Abaire’s Rabbit Hole. The play deals with a 30-something couple whose 5 year old son was killed when he darted out into the street while chasing his dog. The action takes place 9 months after Danny’s death and it deals with the roller coaster/ 1 step forward-2 steps back that is grief.




BUT—there is a great deal of humor in this piece. My character has some of the funniest lines, but I’ll also get to do a wonderful scene where I talk my daughter about living with the loss of her brother. It is such a perfect explanation of how you come to terms with the death of a loved one—especially under tragic circumstances. How the pain of it never goes away, but becomes something you carry around with you. Just a special piece of life baggage, I guess.



I am curious/concerned how my own life experience with tragic loss will impact how I play this role. Is it too close? Too soon? Only time will tell me that.



One thing I do know—without my sense of humor, life would totally suck. It has been our skewed take on things and our ability to see the absurdity that has gotten my family and me through so much ca-ca. And I’ve long since stopped worrying about other people’s reactions to my finding the humor in personal tragedies or difficult situations. In fact, I tend to think there’s something wrong with them if they can’t laugh at life’s challenges.



I guess that’s why I’m so attracted to plays that have that wonderful juxtaposition of tragedy and comedy. Most of the recent plays I’ve directed all have that in common—they’re “dramedies.” They’re so real to me—many times I have found myself laughing one minute and crying the next.





To me, that’s life.

The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. –Henry the 6th, Part II

Okay—so I’m getting this in pieces….




Remember awhile back I mentioned passing a guy on the street corner with a handmade sign…..

Well, he’s back. Now the sign reads: LAWYER ALTERS COURT ORDER.



It’s kinda like reading a Dickens’ novel back in his day—when the stories were serialized in newspapers and periodicals. You’d be left hanging for weeks waiting to see what happened to the hero.



I can’t wait to see what the next sign says—this will be my entertainment for the summer I guess. [is that pathetic?]

Oh—and one of the things that was percolating in my life was an audition. Well, I got the part. I’m gonna play the mother in a production of David Lindsay Abaire’s RABBIT HOLE. I think my knee is in better shape these days—as is my car—so I might actually be able to pull this thing off. It’ll be the first acting I’ve done in about 2 years.



And speaking of the knee… I managed to get thru this whole move thing in spite of the limitations, but it was a challenge at times. My lawsuit is pending—the landlords self-insure AND self-represent, so they stall FOREVER hoping folks will give up in frustration. Not happenin’ Sparky. [ “He who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client.” ]

Our sincerest laughter, with some pain is fraught:

I spent a couple of hours today picking apart two of the scenes in the play I am directing [ALMOST, MAINE]—the two that don’t have “Happily Ever After” endings. And secretly wondering why these are the two most interesting ones to me...

I guess cause life doesn’t wrap things up in nice little packages I guess. Hey where would the fun be in that? It's the "almostness" of things that make life such a challenge. I know that's been true for me, and I'm sure it's the case for many others as well.

The actors and I looked for the hidden meanings in speeches and ways to add layers to what was being said— and to make sure they knew what WASN'T being said. Sometimes that's more important. And everyone had some very interesting insights. About these two couples: one who almost got married but didn't and one who may almost be at the end of their time together. I love exploring things with my actors, helping them gain insight in order to make their characters 3-dimensional, believable people.

Then we go back and make it funny.....

a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse....Part Deax

okay, so tonight was the first read-thru of Fuddy Meers, a play by David Lindsay Abaire [ more on that later]. I'm looking forward to the challenge of playing a stroke victim--with major aphasia....

The read-thru went well, I'm feeling good as I'm driving home around 10ish. First acting role in about a year [the knee injury has had me side-lined since March] and I think I can meet the challenges of the role.

I'm stopped at a red-light, listening to WMMR, wondering what The Daily Show will do tonight... The light changes to green, I go to put my car in gear--nothing. The gearshift just wobbles loosely all over the place. Oh joy.

Had to have the car towed.

Pray to the automobile gods that this isn't going to cost an arm and a leg--I only have one fully functioning one right now anyway.