Opening weekend opened. I opine.

Here on the safe side of opening weekend of “The Vigil or The Guided Cradle” I’m ensconced in my little cubicle world, reflecting on it all. It was quite a busy weekend, all in all and one of my better ones lately in a lot of ways. First off, the show has been rather well received, and the audiences are grasping Crystal Skillman’s message adroitly, a sure compliment to her work, as well as John Hurley’s, who throughout the all too brief rehearsal process was able to distill the already rich mixture of Crystal’s play into a tight 75-80 minute adventure through the best and worst of a slice of human psyche. No easy task, I’m sure.

After now working with these folks for a month I’m still pretty much of the opinion that I have blundered into the cast through a happy accident. I’m not saying I’m not any good at this acting thing, but rather the cast is eerily good. Not a show went by this weekend where the following thoughts didn’t blast through my skull…

1. The hair on my arms stands up every time Dion says that thing about “The one your father is holding down is my brother. He’s the red in the photograph.”
2. Christian as Ippolito is terrifying. I have no idea how I’m consistently staring into that guy’s face without wetting myself.
3. Vinnie pulls off arrogant clever torturer so well, you’d think he actually was an arrogant clever torturer. Ka-boom.
4. Travis York is funny. Also creepy. But mostly funny. That’s skills.
5. I didn’t know Pappas could be as scary as Christian. Try letting him hold a knife to your throat and give you that snarky smile sometime.
6. Susan’s ability to play casual fun and then minutes later be terrified for her life is uncanny.
7. 5 tense guys backstage right before a show goes up is a situation that inevitably lends itself to fart humor.

So the reviews we’ve gotten so far are positive, and I’m still chuckling over the fact that Martin Denton called my performance “heroic.” That’s not an adjective I ever expected to see aligned with my name unless there was a negative modifier in there somewhere, but I’ll take the compliment because hey – a good review is a good review, and I like Martin Denton’s thoughts. Even when they aren’t so favorable.

In the midst of all this torturing tomfoolery I went in and auditioned for “An Ideal Husband” on Saturday morning, and as luck would have it, I’ve managed to snake a plum role in an Oscar Wilde play… so this July I’ll be slick and debonair as Lord Goring, a role I’ve always wanted to tackle simply because it’s hilarious, and despite it’s overtly misogynistic outlook on the roles of women in society, as a period piece, it’s a damned funny one.

And lastly, I might have a line on a little fight choreography work this August – but as I don’t quite have the details just yet, I’m keeping mum.

And of course, we got the show dates for HACK! Coming to you tentatively June 10th, 12th, 13th, 16th and 19th… but that may be revised.

For now, I’m just hoping to keep myself in good health and rest up before I have to hang from the Vigil again on Thursday night. Come see this show. It’s a doozy.