The Hobby continues.

It's that time of year again; time for your humble scribe to get involved with the Capitol Shakespeare again.

Last year was the first year I tried it; I had wanted to before that, but could never make the schedule work for me.  Last year was SHREW, and it was a lot of fun; it was the first time I had stepped onto the stage here in the Northern State, and the first time since my artistic sabbatical began in 2003.  There were a lot of people who had been there before, and for the most part, they made me most welcome.

The nights were fair and cool for July, and the audiences were generous in their laughter.  Then again, if you cannot get a laugh doing SHREW, then it's time to consider another hobby.

This year, it's ROMEO AND JULIET; a bit of a departure, for the first three 'seasons' were comedies.  For those of you familiar with the play OUTSIDE of the many motion picture interpretations, you know that right up until the first scene in the third act, it's a bright, shiny and funny play.

Side note:  The trick to playing it is to a) allow for the suddenness of love and b) always remember that Romeo is sure he's going to live.  You have to play the positive, otherwise it's a play that makes you want to tear your own eyes out, and then turn to the person to your left and tear their eyes out as well.

The director (a fine lady named Erin, who is probably the hardest working person I've met in the Northern State, and who seems to run the thing single-handedly) has given me a ton of leeway.  She took into consideration that I would be missing some rehearsals as I venture out of the country to assist my Father in seeing with his own eyes the very birthplace of the family name, and cast me anyway.  A small part; I come in from time to time to threaten people with death and occasionally banish somebody.  Lots of meat on that bone.  And she's letting me choreograph the various fights.

Tonight, we choreographed the first fight of the night; one guy bites his thumb, another guy takes exception, and suddenly we've got one guy wearing a basket for a hat, one guy getting clubbed with a log of wood, and one poor sap screaming as he's helicoptered around the stage on another guys shoulders....and Benvolio manages to not die when faced with Tybalt The Terminator.

Choreography is time consuming; and tiring.  You know everybody's moves, and are constantly demonstrating....you have to keep your energy up, so everybody else matches that energy.  And I'm almost 50, so I don't have the get-up-and-go that I used to.  But when it comes together......it just makes me smile.

Ear to ear.

I have an assist; the most generous and talented Austin, who will watch and fix and tinker and such in my absence.

It's going to be fun.