In eighteen months, we've lived in New Haven Connecticut; The Netherlands; St. Petersburg, Florida; and we've finally settled in Altoona, Pennsylvania, which looks to be our permanent home. Which area sounds the least inspiring and interesting to you?
You're right.
Things are looking up. Altoona has not much to offer, but it's not devoid of everything. It has a very popular community theater that has been putting on productions yearly since 1948. Last night, for the first time in 14 years, I auditioned for an upcoming production - Kaufman and Hart's "The Man Who Came for Dinner." And I got a part. :p
I'm playing Bert Jefferson, the unflappable local newspaper man who befriends the fearsome Sherman Whiteside. Among a cast of comic roles, I'm the straight man. But this is not a flat, boring straight man role. I find Bert to be a pretty savvy dude, with more dimensions than most straight roles are given. Making an impression with a straight man role in a screwball farce, giving him some depth and substance, is an actor's challenge I'm looking forward to. More importantly, I'm so grateful to be given the opportunity to do something I loved doing when I was a teenager, but just stopped. Sure, it's just community theater in central Pennsylvania, not a starring role on Broadway. But I couldn't be more pleased.
Oh, did I mention Bert is also the dashing romantic role?
Once played by Ralph Fiennes on West End? It's a lot to live up to, but...Funnily enough, the last play I was in 14 years ago was a production of Kaufman & Hart's "You Can't Take it With You" as Grandpa. So now I've become a Kaufman & Hart specialist. You can do lot worse than K&H. In fact, there's not much that's better.