The Bug has bit me -- wish me luck

Not around these parts as much as I used to be. I did post in the last several months that I was stepping back into acting (small part in a student film for a friend). For those of you who didn't know me, I was a professional stage actor in my youth, having performed at such places as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, the Mark Taper Forum in LA, the Seattle Repertory Theater. Life interceded and I made the choice to give up acting to raise a family.

Flash forward: Tonight I audition for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts -- the one professional, Equity house in Denver. They have a good season lined up: "The Trip to Bountiful," "Noises Off," "Glengarry Glen Ross," "The Miracle Worker," "A Christmas Carol," "Richard III," "A Prayer for Owen Meany," "Quilters," 3 new plays and a TBA. Hoping to pick up some work in a few of their shows this season.

I've spent the last couple of weeks working on some monologues and a song. Feel good. It's like riding a bicycle, the flow of character choices and the handling of verse comes back quite easily.

Wish me luck!

Something I should know, but don't (my girlfriend asked the question earlier to day when she uttered the words). Does anyone know the derivation of the phrase "break a leg"?

Nevermind: just googled it.

Yes, Meany was developed into a stage adaptation by Simon Bent for London's National Theater.

They had a copy of the press release there this afternoon -- two of the new plays sound really great!

"Inana" by Michele Lowe -- "On the eve of the U.S. invasion of Baghdad, an Iraqi museum director desperately plots to safeguard an ancient statue from the looting he fears will come. He flees to London with his young bride and before he can begin a new life there, he must reveal his own past and the fate of the statue of Inana, Goddess of War." This play was commissioned by the Denver Center Theater Company.

"Dusty and the Big Bad World" by Cusi Cram -- "'Dusty' is the most popular animated PBS children's television show in America. But when Dusty -- the genial hero of the program -- goes to visit a family with two daddies, the big bad world brings the hammer down hard. 'Dusty and the Big Bad World' is a hilarious, no-holds barred dramatization of the clash between freedom of speech, art (or at least children's TV) and politics."

And they're also doing "Radio Golf" -- August Wilson's capper to his ten-play chronicle.

The audition went well. Thanks.

They both sound good, don't they! Of course all I know about them is from the press release. They're not plays you can get your hands on, yet, to read. There are photos online from the workshop productions last year, but it's just actors standing/sitting around. Nothing "produced".

I'll keep you all posted.

"Noises Off" is in the top of my wish-list. "Glengarry" and "Richard III" round out the top 3.