Has it been that long?

Looking at my previous post, it's been over a month since I've paid any attention to Farmcountrian. For that, I'm both ashamed and dismayed at my laziness in keeping informed my lovely, lovely and relatively sparse readership. For that, I apologize.

As you can see, I've been busy with helping Romeo and Juliet get up on its feet at the Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, Utah. It's been a whirlwind. The three hour journey with a cast of over 20 people rehearsed and teched in two and half weeks! Day two I was removed from the tablework sessions to start work on the fight choreography. I must give credit to Mr. Paul Kiernan, our intrepid fight choreogrpher for working with such ease and alacrity. David Graham Jones (the wonderful chap playing Mercutio) and I worked with Kiernan day by day to get a fight that has a wonderful arc. It's a joy to do, and between you and me and the virtual water cooler, Tybalt is one of the best parts in R&J to play. I get to fight, dance, and die all in the first part of the show. During intermission I clean up the blood, throw on a pair of sweats, and enjoy a sandwich and the company of my castmates until curtain call.

It's been great living in Salt Lake. It's a different vibe than most of the places I've lived, so it's been wonderful understanding the feel of the city. Debbie is in full swing with Jimmy John's and will be opening up her second store this week. Pray to the sandwich gods business will boom. I truly believe Jimmy John's is recession proof. I'm practically supporting the downtown SLC store.

Romeo and Juliet only runs until February 28th. The theater itself is huge: almost 1000 seats. So playing the show feels pretty epic. March and April will be downtime with some travel. I'm hoping to finally get to Los Angeles to see my friends who have been working there. Last year's trip to Chicago was lovely, especially getting the chance to get down to Champaign Urbana to see my teachers and talk shop. So hopefully that will happen again.

I return to Utah Shakes for another season. This year I will be in The Comedy of Errors and Private Lives. I'm very lucky to be working as much as I do. So many people that I know are in a position of hardship, but for whatever reason, I'm doing okay. The universe has been kind, indeed.

Oh and I'm starting to watch Lost. It took me about 13 episodes to care, but now I'm hooked. Battlestar Glalactica is ending in March so I think switching over is a good thing. It's going to be a sad day when the Galactica goes down in a ball of flames, but I can't wait for it happen.