Thursday, August 31, 2006

AUGUST IS THE COOLEST, CRUELEST MONTH...


I am featured as Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf in Firehouse Theatre Project's I AM MY OWN WIFE.Sept 14-Oct 7th.
Call 804-355-2001 For Tickets or log onto www.firehousetheatre.org


August was chock full of happenings.

First, let me say 'thank you' to all the folks who dropped me a line or called & sang 'Happy Birthday' or harassed me about turning Thirty-Three (You know who you are, boy...) and all that jazz. I had a great birthday, as I was busy filming another one of those VA Lottery spots as the Zany 'Texas Hold-Em' guy (You know, the crazy one who shouts out: "THAT'S what I'm talkin about!!") Sonny Zhao was the director this time, and he just let me loose to run wild with it & we got some great stuff. This time around, when the goofy guy 'Plays a good hand' as it were, he is flanked by two gorgeous models in sequined dresses & holding sparklers, and a brass band kicks in. It was the highest of high comedy. The folks at BarberMartin seemd pleased with it & I can't wait to see what the finished product looks like.

I recently returned from a month in Gloucester, MA doing the World Premiere of The Secret of Madame Bonnard's Bath with Israel Horovitz. I gotta say, the North Shore of my beloved Bay state is HEAVEN. I almost didn't come back!!

Here are some highlights, in no particular order:

I saw 35 Whales on a whale watch; I saw the Sox win (for perhaps the last time all season) in person at Fenway (A miracle ninth-inning comeback over the Tribe); I went to the Kennedy Library & Museum; I made tons of new friends; I worked with a world-class playwright; I made the same page of the Boston Globe as Ben Affleck & Theo Epstein; Had Big Papi Ortiz do the 'Double-Index-Finger-Point' right at me while hanging around the players entrance on Van Ness Street; I saw many aunts & uncles, plus my parents came (On separate nights, of course) and I finally got to introduce my lovely wife Jennifer to my longtime friend and mentor, (and HS drama teacher) Ralph Hammann.

I really enjoyed playing all nine or so characters in 'Bonnard', from the coarse & rotund Ambroise Vollard to the stumpy Tolouse-Lautrec to the hopeful Jean-Paul Boursin and all the rest. I will be reprising the roles at Firehouse in November. The NYC Showcase production is supposed to happen for 3 weeks in late jan-early february, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that Mr. Horovitz would like me involved...

But like I said, August was chock full of happenings.

On the negative side, my truck officially died, I had an $11,000 commercial acting gig cancelled on me (ouch!!); the IRS came after me for a mistake I made on my 2003 return (Yikes!!); and the same 'Big Papi' who thrilled us all season long went to the hospital with heart palpitations. The Sox fell the hell off the competitive map; and my plans to buy a new car have been temporarily tabled.

Still, I'm working on a fantastic one-man-err-woman-err-man show called I AM MY OWN WIFE at Firehouse Theatre Project. In addition to playing a sixty -five year-old german transvestite, I play like thirty-six other characters in this astounding biographical piece of documentary-style theatre by Doug Wright. The play deals with Charlotte (nee` Lothar Berfelde) and her struggle to hold steadfast to her own identity during the nigtmarish regimes of first the Nazis and then the Communists in Soviet-Controlled East germany. The play asks more questions about Charlotte than it can possibly answer, and it forces the audience to make up it's own mind, in a way that only good theatre can...

And lastly, Jennie & I are discussing the possibility of relocating to another city-- Spurred on by the fact that we will most likely have to move out of our present housing in january due to the fact that our landlords are moving back in. We want to look at Philly, Chicago, Boston, New York, and a few other places. Now's the time to explore what's out there.

As always, thanks for the support, well wishes, and encouragement...

pray for the Sox.

Auf Wiedersen,

Scott