As I sit here listening to The Smiths, drinking a Summit, and updating my website, I realize that it’s been ages since I’ve posted to the ol’ blog.   I suppose between Twitter and Facebook, I’ve sort of faded away from long-form blogging.  I’m sure everyone was really worried.

Anyway, my last post is from when I was playing Lorenzo in Theatre Pro Rata‘s production of The Spanish Tragedy.   I guess a lot has happened since then.

I returned to Bemidji, Minnesota, this summer to perform in two shows at Paul Bunyan Playhouse.  I played Eugene Jerome in Biloxi Blues and Barry Klemper in The Boys Next Door.  Both were good shows and great experiences.

I was promoted from actor to moderator at GTC Dramatic Dialogues.  It’s an interactive theatre program that mostly tours college campuses.  It’s inspired by Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed, Forum Theatre type of stuff.  There’s a moderator/host and three actors.  The actors perform scenes, stay onstage in character after each scene, and engage in a moderated talkback with the audience.  Far from the cheesy, after-school-special sorts of “issue” shows, GTC Dramatic Dialogues is always an engaging, even heated.  I love it.

Anyway, I’ve been an actor with GTC since 2006, and this year, I became one of the moderators.  It was a daunting position, as it requires a unique and intimidating skill set.  It’s like part discussion leader, part stand-up comic, part conflict mediator, and requires an enormous body of knowledge about our topics (diversity, sexual assault, & substance abuse) and all of the actors’ material as well.  By the time our Fall orientation tour commenced last month, I felt prepared but nervous as hell.  Thankfully, it was a completely wonderful, exhilarating experience.

Now, I’m about to start rehearsal at Old Log Theater in Excelsior, Minnesota, for Jeeves in Bloom, a new play by Margaret Raether based on P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves stories.  Not only is it a fun new comedy with a great cast & company, it’s also five months of continuous, well-paying employment!  Whoohoo!

The Old Log gig is also presenting me with the choice of whether or not to join Equity (the actors’ union).  In the Twin Cities, there’s a widely held opinion that non-union is an easier and more fruitful career path, but the reasons to join the union are extremely attractive.  Right now, I’m leaning towards joining, but I haven’t decided yet, and I’m asking around for advice.

In between theatre projects, I’ve been shooting a film for Dave Ash (which I may’ve mentioned on this blog before) called Connected.  It’s a feature length black comedy in which I play a frustrated, lonely computer programmer who can’t quite make his interpersonal relationships work.  He starts dating a woman (played by Bethany Ford) whom he found via an online dating site, and the film tracks their tragic attempt at a relationship.  The film will also feature Sam Landman and Charles Hubbell.

OK, so there’s me catching up in a ridiculously abridged way.  Hopefully, posts will be more frequent and entertaining in the future.  Or will they???