Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Covid19

Sheesh.

I go from a 5 show Fall season, to the world coming to a halt in March. 

Sort of...


As many of you know, people call me a polymath, I wear a lot of hats and can pivot when things go sideways. The VO work picked up the pace, and the college gig considered me an "essential worker" so I went into the office everyday.

Then the other calls started to come in. People needed help pivoting onto Zoom and other streaming platforms. So I dove in. 

PS21 in Chatham was doing a few concerts with socially distanced performers and audience. I helped with a multi-camera live switch stream feed to their Facebook page. And you know, once you do one, you can't go back to a single camera. The online audience loved it. PS21 kept me busy.

Then there was the virtual book fair.

Then another online play production. 

Then classes were ramping up, with real live students on campus. Weekly testing, and tight protocols. 

And here we are. September. I don't even remember June or July. Or April for that matter. It was a blur.

Be the person people turn to when they need help. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Virtual hugs.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

New Year!

There's a great Charlie Brown cartoon I recently saw. Charlie Brown says, "You only live once." And Snoopy responds, "No, you die once, you live every day."

Now, a little research says that quote is actually credited to Bobby Darin. But who can trust the internet some days?

Yesterday is gone and in the books. To be honest, 2019 was a great year for me. I did a LOT of theater, with several shows back to back. And I won't do THAT again.

It was a lot.

A lot lot. 

And I'm glad that I did it, and I'm glad it's over.

Me performing This Wonderful Life, basically telling the story
of It's a Wonderful Life, with all the characters.
What I learned is that I'm good at what I do, and can make an audience smile and enjoy themselves. And directors keep calling me back, so I guess I'm not a tool.

These are important things to remember! It's so hard to take a complement sometimes and to shake off the imposter syndrome and perhaps admit to yourself you are good at something. 

That's a common thing in our work. Do we belong in the room? Are we good enough?

When you're alone in a booth it's hard to hear the audience reaction. But on stage, it's instant. You know if you nailed that line.

2020 is a new day. And I'm looking forward to the new challenges that await me. I'm already in rehearsal for the Three Penny Opera, I've started writing a new one man show for a festival this spring, and I'm waiting to hear if an invitation to the mideast is going to pan out.

Ya! I'll die later. Today I'm going to live.