Tackling the King

It is with tremendous joy that I get to announce that I will be playing the title role in What Dreams May Co's production of King Lear this winter.

The production is a little ways off, so it still feels a bit surreal to me that I have been honored with the opportunity to play such an iconic role, but seven months hardly feels like enough time to wrap my mind around the deterioration of his, so I'm digging in already. I've read the script before, and more often than not, use one of Regan's monologues as an audition piece, so I am familiar with the script. But one of the lovely things about doing Shakespeare, and about playing different roles each time you do the plays, is that you get to look at them from different perspectives. I've read the show, and considered the show, from Regan's point of view. Now I get to consider and explore it from Lear's, and it is fascinating.

I have some theories and ideas that are not even quarter-baked at this point, that I'm excited to explore with my director as we figure out what this show should look like. And I'm also happy to throw them out the window if they don't fit with her vision. Because the beauty of Shakespeare is that it will always be around, it will always be done, and there will always be an opportunity to do it again. Probably as a different character with a different perspective.

In the meantime, a huge thank you to the director and the producers for having enough faith in my abilities to entrust me with this role. I know that the fact that I got this opportunity means that others did not, and I intend to give it my everything to show that my casting was not a misstep. I can't wait to delve into this man's brain and figure out how to make it fall apart and come together again over the course of two hours. I cannot wait.

As You Like It

I think it has been pretty well established at this point that I love doing theatre. It perks me up when I've had a bad day, it makes me feel better when I'm sick, it gives me something to look forward to when the whole ruddy business of being an adult gets overwhelming. Theatre cures all.

But every now and again, I find myself falling so deeply in love with a show that I'm working on that I can barely sit still through the rest of my day as I wait to get to rehearsal. The pull of the characters, the full emotional lives, the energy of my collaborators is so enticing that it can be hard to do the normal things that I have to do on a daily basis like go to work and eat lunch and things like that. All I want to do is get to the theatre and dive into the work.

The production of As You Like It that I'm working on right now is one of these productions. Part of it might be that As You Like It was the first Shakespearean play that I read, and the one that made me fall in love with the Bard at the tender age of sixteen, so I may be predisposed to love working on this show anyway. I've only been dying to be in a production of it since high school. Part of it may also be that I will get to spend my birthday performing this show. But I think most of it has to do with the cast, crew, and director of the show. We have fun together and we're doing good work. I'm being challenged at the same time that I'm given a lot of room to play. And perhaps most importantly, this experience is reminding me that I really am good at this. I bring value and creativity and energy to a production, and I have what it takes to tackle something really big and make it great.

Which is a very long lead-in to me telling you that tickets are now on sale if you want to come see the show. I think it is going to be fun, whether or not you like Shakespeare. I'd love to see all of your shining faces in the audience, so get your tickets now before they're all gone!