All The World's A Stage

"Othello" Under Way

2011-09-24T22:15:00.001-07:00

"Othello" Tech.

2011-09-17T09:25:00.001-07:00

We have arrived at tech. In theatre, tech. is the rehearsal when all the technical elements (lighting, sound and effects) are plugged into a show. It's a very long and tedious, but necessary process. What is exciting is that we know that we are only a few days away from opening. I'm so honored to be a part of this production. I hope all of you will come out to see the show. Visit my website for more information and tickets.

The Next Big Adventure

2011-03-17T20:19:00.001-07:00

Irene Ryans

2011-02-16T13:27:00.001-08:00

The Irene Ryan experience was incredible! I was so honored to be nominated to represent Utah Valley University in this prestigious competition. My partner was Colin Thomas. We performed a scene from Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart." Afterwards, we received a response from two adjudicators. They were both very complimentary and it was worth the whole trip down to L.A. to hear what they had to say. To have two completely unbiased, fresh opinions about your work is an amazing experience and I learned so much!

Thank you so much to the faculty for this tremendous opportunity!

Hooray for Hollywood

2011-02-02T07:56:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since I've posted on here. But my next big adventure in theater is going to be a 7-day trip to sunny Los Angeles. I can't wait! I'm a Irene Ryan nominee from Utah Valley University for my role as Dr. Rank in "A Doll House." We're leaving on Monday and returning on Sunday. I'll be posting photo's and posting about my adventures at the 2011 Region VIII Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. This is my first time going and I'm really excited! I hope you'll join me via cyberspace!

Join me over on my Sleeper Car blog. Just click on the link on the left side of this page under the section called "My Other Blogs."

Backstage @ Noises, Off!

2010-10-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

Farewell to Sophocles

2010-10-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

Antigone Sketches

2010-10-09T10:22:00.001-07:00

Click Here
I am not aware of who sketched these, but thank you to whomever did these. They are absolutely beautiful. Thank you for your great contribution and tremendous talent!

Antigone Photo's

2010-10-09T10:06:00.001-07:00

Click Here

Antigone Program

2010-10-09T04:56:00.001-07:00

Click Here

2 Incredible Shows

2010-10-09T04:01:00.000-07:00

A Very Carthartic Experience

2010-09-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

Onward to Sophocles

2010-08-28T09:54:00.001-07:00

Saying Goodbye to Ibsen

2010-04-29T17:53:00.000-07:00

Ibsen is Awesome

2010-04-09T18:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I am sitting in my dressing room on the verge of the next to the last performance of "A Doll House" and we have another full house! This has been truly one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life! I can feel the energy of the audience clear back here in my dressing room. This is why I do live theater! It is truly a cathartic experience and going out on stage is so much fun and rewarding! This is a rare opportunity, particularly in Utah County, to expose our audiences to classics such as this. I hope this is a sign of things to come! We owe so much to playwrights such as Ibsen for paving the way with daring works such as "A Doll House." Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, and so many more that have followed these greats, owe everything to the wonderful and exciting courage of playwrights such as Ibsen. I am honored to now say that I have had the opportunity to act in one of his plays.

Opening Night

2010-03-25T06:57:00.000-07:00

Well, it is finally here, opening night for "A Doll House." It has been a very tough and wonderful road we've traveled on as a cast these past six weeks, and I am so happy that we have the opportunity to finally open our production tonight.

I am really proud of all the hard work that has gone into this show, and, I'm so honored to be a part of it! I hope all of you out there will come and see this wonderful new "American" translation of this classic Ibsen masterpiece. I personally feel this translation is the best I have ever seen. I had the tremendous honor on Tuesday evening last, to sit and visit with the translator, Eric Samuelsen for a while and he told me that this was a literal word-for-word translation. I went back the next day and read the British translation done by Frank McGuinness, and there was so much left out. It is literally a "Cliff Notes" version of Ibsen's text. This translation makes everything so clear, and there is no mistaking the reason for the play's ending. It was an honor to sit and visit with Eric and he was very complimentary towards our production. I was touched by his comments and very appreciative of the rare treat is is as an actor to have contact with a playwright on their own work, particularly when you are personally working on it yourself as an actor.

I encourage all of you out there to come and see our production. Tonight through Saturday if you buy one ticket you can get another for half off the regular price. Utah Valley University shows tend to sell out quickly towards the end of the run, so I would encourage you to get your tickets early and come early!

Ibsen Is Wonderful

2010-03-10T11:27:00.000-08:00

Well, here we stand, less than 2 weeks away from opening "A Doll House" @ UVU. It truly has been an amazing journey! It has been so much fun to work with James Arrington and Scott Stringham, our assistant director, as well as one of the most incredible casts I have ever had the honor to work with! Eric Samuelsen has written an incredible translation of this theatrical masterwork, and I feel our particular production will truly bring Ibsen to a contemporary 21st century audience with ease and grace! This is a powerhouse of a play, and I can guarantee all of you out there will be blown away by this amazing story! I am truly honored to be part of this wonderful project! Come see us, you will not regret it! It will truly change your life forever!

Urinetown

2010-01-31T20:47:00.000-08:00

I am now immersed in "A Doll's House." I have my first "real" rehearsal tomorrow night and I'm really excited! But, for two weeks I've had to take a detour to the wonderful musical world of the Tony-Award winning musical "Urinetown" to help out on the run crew with follow-spots.

It's been quite a few years since I ran a follow-spot but it was so much fun to come in to this venture with a remarkable and fun cast and crew to help put on this wonderful show! It is one of my personal favorites and I was so excited to participate in it as well as get to see the show every night. It was an amazing experience!

Kyle Hess has to be one of the best stage managers I have ever worked with! It has been a real treat to not only work with him as an actor/stage manager, but now as a crew/stage manager. It's been wonderful. And the cast is one incredible group of actors/actresses! They put on a really amazing show and the audiences loved it! Dave Tinney was the director/choreographer and he is hands down one of the best directors in the world! I am constantly amazed by his work! And I was so excited to work on one of his shows!

It's been fun being behind the scenes this time around and I am happy to always use my tech skills every once in a while.

Now on to "A Doll's House" and the world of Ibsen. I can't wait!

Ibsen

2010-01-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! It's been a while and I thought I'd update you on my new project. I am now delving into the world of Henrik Ibsen and his masterpiece, "A Doll's House," at UVU. I am playing Dr. Rank. I am really excited about this project. This is a new American translation of the original Norwegian script set in the 1950's instead of 1897. This is the world's first realistic drama and it stands as a masterpiece in the theatrical canon. I am so excited to be a part of this project!

Right now I'm behind the footlights running spotlight for "Urinetown" at UVU and it's been loads of fun being a techie again. The show is fantastic and I highly recommend it to everyone!

More to come, hope you all have a great week!

The Christmas Spirit

2009-12-16T20:04:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here in my dressing room as intermission is about to begin. It has been so much fun being involved with "Christmas Carol" once again after a year hiatus. I've missed it! This year has been so rewarding and has brought back the Christmas spirit for me. Even though I have faced so many challenges this past year, doing this show puts it all into perspective! There are only 7 shows left! Don't miss this show! You'll regret it if you do! I hope all of you out there have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year!

Christmas Time Again

2009-11-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry. It has been so long since I last posted!

"Something Wicked This Way Comes" was a great success and such a wonderful experience! It was a very bittersweet experience closing that production. I miss seeing everyone each night and the great ensemble that was created. These are friendships that I hope will last a lifetime!

It's "Christmas Carol" time again! I was invited to play Fezziwig/Solicitor #2 again in the Hale-Orem annual production and I am so happy I'm back with this production. I missed it last year! Some of the old timers are back but there are so many newcomers this year, and that is such a delight! Christmas isn't Christmas without this show! I never tire of it! I hope you will come and see it! Tickets are going fast so get your tickets A.S.A.P.! I'm performing in the MWF cast. Visit my website for more information.

I wish all of you out there a happy holiday season! May you find great joy this season!

Something Wicked Approaches

2009-10-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been over a month since I've posted anything. With school and doing this remarkable production, it's been really busy, so I apologize for the lack of posts.

This experience has truly been remarkable. We in the Utah Valley University Theatrical Arts Department are the first group to perform this adaptation in North America. It has truly been a fascinating and wonderful experience creating a fresh, new approach to this piece. Rehearsals have been grueling but so rewarding! Terry Petrie, our director, is an amazing man with great insight and creativity! I have so enjoyed working with him!

I hope all of you out there will get tickets ASAP! We expect a sell-out! You will not regret being a part of this landmark event!

Something Wicked This Way Comes

2009-09-18T04:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we are into the rehearsal process now 2 weeks. And boy has it been an incredible journey so far. It has been such an honor to be a part of this incredible process. This is the first time the stage version of Ray Bradbury's incredible novel has been performed in North America. That really is quite an honor to be a part of something that remarkable. Dr. Terry Petrie, our director, is such a gentle man but at the same time has incredible and strong vision. Along with our assistant director, Alex Ungerman, they both have a vision for a breathtaking and terrifying production of this classic. Both men are incredible and I am so blessed to be associated with them. Our cast is an incredible collection of talent. I am blown away each and every rehearsal. I hope you will all come to see this truly remarkable piece of theater.

BTW, if you haven't guessed by now ;) I was cast. I am playing Mr. Crosetti, the town barber. I get my wished granted by this mysterious carnival, but that wish has a humiliatingly heavy price that comes with it. You'll have to come see the show to find out.

Theater - Still An Important Part of Life

2009-09-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this entry from my friend Mark Fossen's Blog. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it. Mark expresses very eloquently why I love theater so much.

Before the post I just wanted to update you. "Imaginary Invalid" has closed. Closing night we had over 200 people in the audience, which was fantastic! It was great way to close the production. I miss my fellow cast mates very much!

School has started, and I am a bit overwhelmed but happy. I finally feel my life is moving forward for once! We had assessment auditions last week and this was the first time I have ever walked into an audition and I wasn't nervous. I felt comfortable during it! It was amazing and scary all at the same time. At the same time, I auditioned for "Something Wicked This Way Comes." A regional premiere of a stage adaptation of the famous Ray Bradbury novel by the same name. I got a callback! I'm excited! I'll keep you posted!

Well, here it is. Thank you Mark Fossen for putting into words what so many of us in the theater feel very deeply! Enjoy!

"I believe that theatre matters.

I believe that theatre still matters even millennia after we gathered around the fire and reenacted that day’s hunt. I believe that even in an age of texts and tweets, gathering people in a room and telling a story is important and worthwhile.

I feel like I’m explaining my “belief” in gravity, or in a round Earth, or in the wetness of water. Yet in the early days of the 21st century, a belief that theatre is important and relevant and that it really matters puts me in the camp with the birthers or the flat-earthers, stylish in my tinfoil hat.

Theatre matters because it is still unique, because technological advances cannot breach the simple truth that we are all here together in this place and in this time. Each performance, actors and audience all gather in a temporary community that will never happen again. In a world that is slowly advancing beyond the physical limitations of time and place, theatre is one thing that cannot be time shifted, cannot be virtualized, cannot be indexed by Google. Even as the social networks of the Internet gradually take us out of our local communities and make us members of larger groups unbound by geography, theatre still only can happen in the here and now.

I moved to Salt Lake City a few years ago, from a past spent in cities like Chicago, San Francisco, and New York. I moved to the far exurbs, and comfortably settled in to my virtual network. I worked from home with folks from the East Coast, and socialized online with friends from across the United States and beyond. Though I lived in Utah, I did not live in Utah. Some of that was that I simply felt like a fish out of water, an alienated intellectual agnostic in the heart of a theocracy. I didn’t have much in common with my community, and chose to find my own that was unbound by locale.

Then, one night, I went to a play: Hedwig And The Angry Inch at Plan-B Theatre. Suddenly I felt amongst my people. The crowd cheered and a drag queen swore, and loud, filthy rock filled the air … and I felt like I had come home. I was not importing my community from Hollywood or Chicago or London, I was not selectively living in a virtual community … I was here in this moment with these people in this place, and I found a people I could be a part of. I don’t feel that online communities are any less “real” than local ones, but they certainly are different. Though I couldn’t know much about the crowd around me, I felt a spirit that surrounded me and could sustain me.

My later work with Plan-B has highlighted my sense of this true “Community Theatre”. We’ve sadly made that term synonymous with “amateur theatre”, as if by virtue of our paychecks we are no longer a part of our communities. As if our union status or tax returns prove that we are somehow above our community and no longer come from it and speak back to it. But there should be no shame in the term “Community Theatre”, no shame in a theatre that gathers us together for a couple of hours and lets us tell the stories we need to tell and hear the stories we need to hear. It’s what all really important theatre is.

Especially here in Salt Lake, that community theater fills a need. There are many of us that don’t quite fit in the dominant culture, who feel ill-at-ease in a conservative state where a church wields enormous power. Mannie Mannim, of South Africa’s historic Market Theatre has a quote that resonates for me: “The critics of the Market said that we were simply preaching to the converted. But that wasn’t really right. What we were doing was giving nourishment to like-minded people.”

I felt this most profoundly playing a role as the kind of right-wing religious politician that defines Utah’s political landscape. I could feel the palpable waves of smug superiority rolling off the audience, accompanied by the occasional audible snort. I was immensely frustrated that I was unable to shake them out of their assumptions and get them to actually listen. I wanted them to confront their own prejudices. I wanted to shake them out of their red/blue worldview and get them to look for the shades of purple.

Then I stopped. … and listened … and felt. A Sunday matinee made me see that this was a secular service where people were taking in the spiritual sustenance they needed to get through their week in a larger society that wanted to exclude them. While everyone else was at their church, we were at ours. I gradually accepted that this was a chance for us to escape into a community where we felt among peers and could be among our people. As a performer, I was part of that community, not separate from it. It was not “us vs. them”, it was just “us”. Some of us were telling the story and some were listening, but that was beside the point: we had gathered together because this story and its communal telling … it mattered.

It’s OK to be nourished sometimes, to get a fill-up of community and belonging, to be reminded we’re not alone. This nourishment doesn’t only come from overtly issue-oriented theatre: we can be nurtured or challenged or inspired by beauty as much as politics. What’s important about theatre, and what makes it still matter at all is that electric sense that it’s happening to us together in this moment.

We make theatre, every time it happens. We can make theatre happen without lights, without set, without costume, without even a script. But without us, without that physical community gathered together, it’s not theatre … it’s rehearsal. That community? That nourishment? That theatre? It will always matter."

Adventures in Moliere Land

2009-08-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe we have only 3 shows left. It's been so much fun being a part of this little adventure in the outdoors. Last night we had well over 100 people in the audience and we only made it to intermission before the downpour. Ahhh, the joys of outdoor theater! LOL!

I felt bad for the audience, but A.R.T.E. offered them free admission to any of the 3 final performances, and the majority all said they'd be back. The audience feedback was great and they all were enjoying it immensely! So I feel good about the show last night, albeit it only a half show. ;)

This truly has been a great experience and the cast has been awesome to work with. Barta Heiner, the director of A.R.T.E. has been so wonderful in her feedback and her advice and it's been great to rub shoulders with her!

I'm going to miss this group, but it will be on to the next project. For me, it'll probably be "Christmas Carol" again at HCTO. I skipped it last year, but I would really like to be involved again this year. I missed it! Christmas just isn't the same without it!

I hope you all out there will come and see the show before it closes on Saturday night. Thursday night is 2 for 1. So that's a great deal. And the forecast is "no rain." YAY!

Moliere Is Alive And Well in Provo

2009-08-15T05:08:00.000-07:00

WOW, sorry that I haven't been on here to update you on the progress of my latest adventure in theater.

"The Imaginary Invalid" has been a wonderful new adventure. I joined the cast three weeks into the rehearsal process and they have welcomed me with open arms. They're all wonderful. Bradley Moss, one of my wonderful directors from "No Time for Sergeants" at HCTO is playing the lead, Argan. It is so exciting and wonderful to now work with him as a fellow actor. He is amazing! I also get to work again with my wonderful friend, Kris Jennings, who played my wife in "Footloose" at SCERA. As always she is so much fun to work with and so amazingly talented! I am so grateful to Neal for inviting me into this adventure! First dress is tonight! We open next Thursday! I'm a bit nervous, but that's normal!

Forgive the quality here, but this a snippet of rehearsal two weeks ago when we got on stage at the Castle for the first time!

Below is also some photo's I took when we got there. The Castle is a beautiful theater. It's basically a take on the ancient Greek Theaters. It's an amazing venue to work in. I'm so glad to be back.

Wednesday night we ended up canceling rehearsal because of a storm, and last night it rained again. But we got access to the turret so we were able to run the show in there. Tonight's our first dress and we're crossing our fingers for no rain.

Below is also a video I took last night of a really gorgeous cloud formation just as the storm was moving in. Forgive Neal's (our directors) language. LOL! They were having a discussion of props or the lack thereof at his high school where he teaches.

Hope you all out there will take the time to come see us. Visit the website for all the information. Hope to see you all there!

Unexpected Opportunity

2009-07-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

WOW! An unexpected opportunity has come my way, so I am once again on the boards sooner than expected. My dear friend and director Neal Johnson has asked me to play Dr. Diafoirus in this fall's Actors Repetory Theater production of Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" that he is directing. I'm excited. This is the second time I have visited this particular play. I was in the 1989 Utah Shakespearean Festival production as a servant. This will be fun! It's wonderful when unexpected opportunities come your way. Thanks Neal. Stay tuned for more later.

Goodbye Forest of Arden

2009-05-24T07:12:00.001-07:00

Well AYLI has finally closed. It was really an emotional day and I will be forever changed for being a part of this remarkable experience! Thank you to all of you out there who came and supported this production. I hope you enjoyed it! It was so much fun to put on and an incredible learning experience! Thanks to Christopher Clark for being such a wonderful director, Jeremy Showgren for adding so much to our show with his beautiful music and arrangements, John Graham for his fight choreography, and to the entire staff and crew of HCTO. It is always so much of a joy to work with you all. I highly recommend to anyone out there, if you haven't done a show at HCTO you need to! It is a total professional theater who's love for the arts is boundless and their love for the actor is incredible!

Well, I made a decision and hopefully I'll be returning to college in the fall to finish my degree in Theater. I am so excited and nervous. But I know this is the right decision for me. I'll be attending UVU. Wish me luck and remember me in your thoughts and prayers. This is the next exciting theatrical adventure for me! I can't wait!

3 More Shows

2009-05-22T05:41:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it. Only 3 more shows left. I'm really going to miss this cast and this show! It's truly been a wonderful experience. Below is a short (sorry about the quality) video of last night's performance (2 short scenes from Act V). By this video you can see what a joy it's truly been and what joy we have brought to audiences. I'm so proud of the work we've done! Enjoy!

Last Week

2009-05-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we're at the beginning of our last week! It's really been quite the journey. I have been working with an amazing and wonderful group of people and I will be forever grateful for this opportunity for the rest of my life!

Monday and Tuesday though, as with every show, I was reminded of the sometimes negative side of theater. Rude audience members. I thought I'd use this post to kind of vent and share my feelings about this very subject.

#1 Parents, don't bring your children unless they want to come. Let them make the decision for themselves. They're never too young to be intelligent enough to make that decision. Forcing them to come will only hurt them as well as the performing arts themselves.

#2 If you don't want to be there, why come? Why pay good money or have someone else pay good money to give you a ticket and all you do is sit there and text your friends, listen to your IPOD and generally be rude to not only the actors but your fellow audience members as well?

#3 To piggy back on that, ladies and gentlemen, the purpose of the performing arts is to escape the world for a couple of hours. Is your life so empty that you have to keep in touch with everyone in your life 24/7 via text, IM, etc.? How would you like it if you spent time and effort to prepare a speech or a presentation and everyone in the room paid no attention to you and just sat there and texted, answered their phones, etc. Do you like it when your trying to have a conversation with someone and you can tell that they're "not there?" Plain and simple ladies and gentlemen, it's rude! And very immature!

#4 The performing arts is not television/film! You cannot come to a performing arts event and just sit back and say "entertain me!" The performing arts are not that way. They are a collaborative art form. During the pre-production phase, the director and designers collaborate to plan a production; then the cast arrives and collaborate with the director and each other to create the production; you, the audience member are the final collaborator. You have to come with your own intelligence, critical thinking and desire to learn something about yourself, the world you live in, about different kinds of people and points of view. You need to be that final collaborator with the actors to create a living piece of art that is created right before each others eyes every single night. That's the magic of the performing arts.

Thank you for letting me rant. I love theater and the performing arts in general. This is my life. My purpose in life. It brings me joy each and every day! To create is an amazing gift! I have so enjoyed this journey that AYLI has taken me on. I love each and everyone involved with me in this project very deeply. They and this show have changed my life for the better!

Two Weeks Left

2009-05-12T04:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this amazing journey with AYLI is almost over. It will be hard to leave this project! This past week was really a roller coaster! 9 shows in one week! I'm tired! Thank goodness for a day off to replenish!

We had a good week overall. Great audiences. Particularly Friday and Saturday evenings. What wonderful audiences! One hilarious incident happened on Saturday evening. A young 5-year-old boy was sitting in the front row on the West side. During Orlando's speech asking himself why he couldn't get the words to come out of his mouth to Rosalind, this very intelligent young man looked at Jason Sullivan and yelled out "you should" and it stopped the show. It was hilarious. If a 5-year-old boy can understand Shakespeare, what are the adults' problem?! Shakespeare is so wonderful and the language so rich and beautiful. I am so excited that so many audiences are coming to the show and either re-discovering or discovering Shakespeare and enjoying him! It's such a blessing as a performer to get so many comments about this wonderful play! But, that reaction from that young boy is the reason why I do what I do. I know that we made a positive impact on that young boy's life, one that will stay with him forever. That really touched my heart.

Only thirteen more shows. If you haven't seen this show, get out and do so. I promise you, you will not regret it! It's been a wonderful experience for me, one that I will never forget!

A Special Guest

2009-04-30T03:53:00.001-07:00

We've had such a great run up to this point. Great audiences and as a cast we've really become close not only as colleagues but friends as well. And it shows, and that is something I'm very proud of.

Last night we had a special guest in our audience. Edward Herrmann. One of my all time favorite actors came to see our show. I was touched that he would come. He was a dear friend of one of our cast members, Rosanna (Duchess) and it was nice and exciting to meet him after the show. He was gracious to allow us to take a picture with him. He also came through the line to meet us all which I thought was also very gracious of him. It was a honor to meet one of America's truly best character actors.

The show as I said above is going so well. We're having loads of fun! You only have three more weeks. Don't miss it!

We're Opened

2009-04-19T06:23:00.001-07:00

Opening week is over! WOW what a ride! We've had great audiences so far! Last night we really hit our peak for the first time and it felt wonderful! We hit our stride as an ensemble and pushed it as far as we could go! It was an awesome show, even though the audience was great and that helped, we, as an ensemble worked together in unison like an ensemble should, and it felt great! Now we can use this momentum and make this show a smash hit! I love it when this happens in a show. Usually in typical community theater or educational theater, the runs are so short, when you finally get to this point, it's time to close. I love working @ HCTO because their runs are much longer, so when you hit that point you can ride with it and enjoy it for quite some time and grow even further with a show! It's so awesome! I work with the greatest group of people! I am so honored! Don't miss this show! You'll regret it!

Previews

2009-04-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight is our last preview. It has been one exciting 4 days of performances! We've had great audiences and they have been really accepting of the show. I'm so proud of our production! It has been a lot of hard work, but it's paid off! I hope you will come and see the show!

More to come! :)

Hell Week

2009-04-06T09:50:00.001-07:00

I can't believe we've arrived at hell week. The term is basically used to describe the week of opening. It is when everything comes together through long rehearsals and lots of tedious free time while scenes and elements get fine tuned before you open. It's a lot of hard work and takes lots of patience, but in the end you have something wonderful to show for it. For me personally it isn't hell. It's exciting! The show is finally coming together and the excitement is felt in the air all week. Culminating in a great opening with a great audience. Technically, we don't open until next Thursday, but we have 4 previews, 2 this weekend, and 2 next Monday and Tuesday. We get a night off, and then we officially open. But I count this Friday as opening, just because they will be our first audience to see this show! I'm so excited!

This past week has been an exciting time! The show has really come together and the cast is incredible! I'm so excited to get on the stage tonight in costume! This is my favorite time of the rehearsal process. All the elements come together! This journey has been a truly educational one, and an incredible one as well! I look forward to spending the next 6 weeks with this remarkable group of people!

2 More Weeks

2009-03-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we're getting closer and closer. Today we ran Acts IV-V and then ran Acts I-III after lunch. It was really fun to see the show starting to come together as a whole. Below is a short video sample of a couple of scenes. Even though I am exhausted, not like others in the cast, but exhausted, and we rehearsed for over 7 hours today, it was all worth it!

First Run Thru

2009-03-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday was so awesome! We ran the first three acts. It's already beginning to become such a charming and hilarious show, I can't wait for the next two weeks as this show comes together! I have included two very quick snippets from rehearsal. The quality isn't great but hopefully it will give you just a taste of what's in store for you when you come see the show. I'm so excited!

2nd Week of Rehearsals

2009-03-15T19:28:00.001-07:00

We've gone through the 2nd week of rehearsals. It's been fun! We've blocked the first 3 acts and I've staged the wrestling scene as well, which is going to be so hilarious. As I indicated before, we have a great cast. And more and more as rehearsals go on, that's becoming more and more obvious. I am so looking forward to this week and the coming weeks as we get closer to opening. I hope all of you out there will come and see us. You won't be disappointed!

First Two Rehearsals

2009-03-06T19:34:00.001-08:00

Wow, we've had our first two rehearsals and I'm so excited for this show. Chris is a fantastic director who allows his actors full creativity and I can already see has the uncanny ability to then focus that creativity and bring us as actors in line with his vision. He believes in playing! I love that! That is something that I have learned throughout my career the past 30 years has been that actors need to play more. Have fun more. To explore and take risks. That is where true art takes place. We have an amazing cast and I can't wait to see where we go on this adventure. I am confident we will have a wonderful production of Shakespeare's classic "As You Like It," one that will engross the audiences that come to see it and to make their lives more fun. This play celebrates life, it celebrates never giving up and learning to make the best out of every situation, good or bad. I know the audiences out there who maybe leery of Shakespeare and/or find him boring; well, they won't with our production. Shakespeare is wonderful when done well. I can't wait to share him with our Utah County audiences.

As You Like It

2009-03-01T14:47:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. In the past I've had 2 performance blogs, one for "On Golden Pond" and one for the 2007 production of "A Christmas Carol." Well I've decided to create one all encompassing performance blog. You will see a link to this blog on all of my performance pages from this current show I'm involved with and on into the future. As well as links on my other two blogs, "Paris by Night" and "Beautiful Randomness."

Well, I'm back on the boards again. This time it's Shakespeare's wonderful comedy, "As You Like It." I have wanted to get back into Shakespeare for many years and now I have the chance at last. I'm so excited! And this is my first HCTO show in over a year. I have missed the Hales & Swenson's so much this past year and I can't wait to get back on that wonderful intimate stage again!

This is also a first for me with being my very first show with Chris Clark. I have admired Chris' work for a long time, particularly his Shakespeare productions, and that is one of the reasons I wanted to audition for this production. I'm very honored he cast me and am looking forward to an exciting learning experience as well as a new challenge. I always approach my theater work in this manner. I always choose my projects in this manner as well. Projects that not only challenge me as an actor, but also those projects that will help me grow as an actor. And, as well, I get to work with some fellow actors I have never worked with before as well as old friends! It's exciting! Stay tuned for more entries in the coming weeks as I, along with the rest of my fellow thespians journey towards the opening of one of Shakespeare's true classics! I can't wait to get to work.