Return Engagement, Part 1A....

Well, after an absense of roughly six months, I thought I'd come back, spruce up the ol' blog a bit (new name, a quote from Malvolio's letter speech in Twelfth Night.....the alternative was Bend Over Shakespeare. I think the quote does a better job than the original of capturing the idea behind the blog.....the full line is Olivia's supposed admonition to, among other things, "put thyself into the trick of singularity", every actor's goal and dilemma of somehow making oneself unique within the field by being specifically, and simply, who one intrinsically is). And before going on in any depth, just highlight some newsie kind of details.

We accomplished the move in two parts up to Philadelphia, and found a terrific place to live in a neighborhood called West Mt. Airy. Sonja, the wife, is up there now, back in the audition loop in NY and increasingly in Philly. She's found gainfull employment walking dogs with a pet sitting service and working with an attorney helping him rent his many properties to Temple Univ. students. Our dog Mac (short for the MacCallen, now the 14 year old kind) and orange tabby Spenser (yes, with an "s") are up in PA with her and flourishing. I am down here in the Deep South with my charmingly neurotic, epileptic white terrier mix Bea Lillie, still at the same Shakespeare Festival. Having accepted the job mentioned in the last entry, I've enjoyed greatly doing Malvolio in Twelfth Night, and the Barber in La Mancha has been OK....wonderful to be singing and great fun to perform, though the production itself is sort of hollow at the core. So it's turned out to be a positive experience and a good decision, however frustrating in the day to day details (more on that soon).

So there's the quick update.....I'll fill in more details as I post in the coming days and weeks. Thanks to those that have stayed in touch, and more to come later.