Sunday, May 27, 2007

Oh what a theatrical week. . .

This is one of those weeks when all sort of theatrical activity dominates my life. The 7th weekend of King Kalimari is over and the final performances will be next weekend. Tuesday night is the first rehearsal for Culver City Public Theatre's summer production of Much Ado About Nothing, which marks my first experience performing Shakespeare. Thursday night is the tech rehearsal for Prophets Need Not Apply, the latest Habimah production at Congregation Ner Tamid in Rancho Palos Verdes, directed by Morgan Land (pictured below giving notes during a recent rehearsal).

The first Habimah performance will be next Sunday evening (preceded that day by another tech rehearsal and a run-through). In between all of this, on Wednesday I will be working as an extra on a new TV series, Mad Men. All in all a very busy week. By next Sunday night, I expect to be totally exhausted but feeling buoyant by the varied acting experiences as we transition from May to June.

Later I will be writing more about the Habimah program and the incredible impact it has had on the children of Congregation Ner Tamid. It is a program that has bolstered my view that theater is one of the best builders of self-esteem. And, by including a number of adults in the cast with 40+ young people, it has also proved to be an incredible cross-generational experience. I'll also be writing more about my foray into Shakespeare and the experience of becoming Dogberry, who Director Ken MacFarlane describes as "one of the great comic characters" in the Bard's works. I am both excited and honored to be cast in this production. Below is a photo of Ken, taken backstage at CCPT when we were performing in Ibsen's Enemy of the People in the summer of 2004.

And now to get some rest on this Memorial Day weekend as the summer theater season is about to get underway.

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