When I started this website a while back, I told myself I'd post once a week, and share my thoughts on shows I was seeing, auditions I was doing, great food I was wishing I could afford to try... but I think we can all see how that went. (If you can't, just check the timestamp of this blog post compared to the last one/original post.) That's not to say I haven't been busy! I have auditioned for a few things, and not been cast. I've also been cast, and elected to decline the offers in favor of focusing on my other work. My work as an actor has been my cornerstone of stability the last couple years, but now I'm trying to further my craft as a playwright. The whole lucky excursion to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe sort of shook things up for me, and isn't the saying "Strike while the iron is hot?"
In taking time away from performing, I've been working on an adaptation of the classic Romanticsm Era drama CYRANO. Having worked with director Tony Lawry in the past, it was an easy segue to work with him as an adaptor. He wanted something classical, but a modern take. We got together, outlined various pieces of this new form of the old play, and I set to work! Making it a 6 person comedy with modern language and a female protagonist was somewhat of a tall order, but it's coming together! We have a reading in less than a week to workshop the piece before it goes into production. That'll give me some time to work out the kinks with Tony in the script, and, fingers-crossed, make a hell of a show to see next spring! I'm also trying to get further productions of FAMILY VALUES drawn up in the US and England, as well as getting SO FAR into first production, but I won't divulge more than that. Don't want to say anything too grandiose and jinx it. More on that later. I hope. While going between actor and playwright, I've been seeing a few fun shows with some of my favorite people and companies: FUNNY GIRL at Skokie Theatre (directed by Steve Genovese), BEYOND THERAPY at Skokie Theatre (directed my Wayne Mell), and Theatre Above the Law's inaugural production: MATT AND BEN (directed by Tony Lawry). Of course, there are shows I missed that I hated to miss (Becca Holloway's Chicago directorial debut is at the top of this list, for her direction of 44 PLAYS FOR 44 PRESIDENTS at Oil Lamp Theater). However, despite what I've missed and am hoping to see (like Piccolo Theatre's current SNOW QUEEN panto), it's always fun to see what friends and companies are doing, just to know what's in circulation. And to help devoid my own mind of ramblings. Related, yet not: I've been considering whether or not to go back to college. I always wanted to be a theatre professor, but my life has kind of changed a bit. I didn't expect to have a script produced before I turned 26. Nor did I think I'd have companies interested in more of my written work. I assumed I'd move to Chicago, times would be hard, I'd develop a little resume material, and I'd go back to the world of educational settings and professional networking. But here I am. I'm not mad about, just hindsightedly surprised. Regardless of my plans before, I think I'm just taking life at it comes, right now. Auditioning for things that interest me, writing things that interest me... and we'll go from there? Sounds pretty all right, I think. Even if it wasn't what I intended. But isn't that what I should be doing?
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Michael DalbergA blog, because not everything needs to be all work and no play. Archives
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