We are in our final week of Of Mice and Men. We extended due to how well this show was received. I am proud to have been a part of it, proud to have been invited to work here.
This particular company has been working hard to grow into something quite special. After a significant renovation, the facilities are beautiful (a converted movie house that once housed Burt Reynold's theater a while back).
I feel like my work has been well-received here. I'd like to think they'd ask me back if there was a role appropriate for me. This is a great place to work and I would not hesitate to work with them again.
That said, this was a tougher project than I anticipated:
Curley is very unlikable. I don't like to say that about any character I play as I feel it is very important for an actor to empathize and identify with the character in which he is to portray. However, facts are facts and Steinbeck doesn't give a great deal of opportunity for anyone playing this part to expand on what is written. In other words, he comes in and out in a flash, instigates and incites altercations, and then darts back out.
Whenever I work on a role, yes - I have to acknowledge the characters role in the play (how does my character fit in this world? what purpose does my character serve in the story? etc.), but I never judge him. I always work to pin the lens of perspective to justify my character's actions (which are tied to his wants and needs). While I know I did that with Curley, I must acknowledge that it was/is a near impossible get to receive much empathy from audiences for reasons I just explained.
Bottom line - it wears on a person (it wears on me) to play such a damaged character and receive very little back. There's no real pay-off with him. He just is...
He is amongst the saddest of characters in this play, I believe.
Anyway...Florida...hmm...a mixed bag.
To be blunt - it's weird down here.
Stand your ground laws
People high on bath-salts eating each other's faces off
Bullying in the NFL (what?? really???)
sinkholes
Enough of that - high notes?
MoonFest - a fun outdoor Halloween party up and down Clematis Street
(lots of scantily clad hotties walking around - never a complaint from me on that one)
The weather is ridiculously beautiful, constantly.
I met and worked with some wonderfully talented people.
I couldn't not go to the Florida Keys while here...and I have to admit...I get it.
I get why people go and don't come back.
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| Sunset at the Sunset Pier (you bet your ass there was a cocktail in my hand!) |
Tourist-y?
Hell yea!
But fortunately there is enough around the tourist stuff that still makes it all wonderful.
FUN FACT - The Keys are, in fact, a network of fossilized coral reefs; about 800-1700 separate islands (the higher number includes those islands that are only a network of salt-water dwelling trees), no dirt on any of them.
In addition, some of the tourist-y stuff is actually interesting:
What's next?
Spring semester: 2-3 courses
More acting? Yes, please!
FUN FACT - The Keys are, in fact, a network of fossilized coral reefs; about 800-1700 separate islands (the higher number includes those islands that are only a network of salt-water dwelling trees), no dirt on any of them.
In addition, some of the tourist-y stuff is actually interesting:
Ernest Hemingway's Studio
The Hemingway House was pretty cool; cats all over (Around 45 in total, all polydactyl cats [6-7 paws] - all descendants of "Snowball," one of his son's pets).
Beautiful house, utopian property; easy to see how one could do such work in such a setting.
What a character he was. I will read more of his stuff immediately.
1st on my list, To Have and Have Not (directly inspired from his time in the Keys).
The whole place reminding me of a mix between Venice, CA and New Hope, PA
Easy Living.
The drive to and from was an experience in it of itself.
The oft single-lane route 1 was awesome: windows and sun roof open, blaring tropical music...magical.
The water is a crystalline blue (sometimes aqua) that I had never seen...sometimes lapping right up to Route 1, bridges allowing one to hop from key to key, ending in Key West.
I didn't spend enough time there.
I will come back to snorkel and enjoy the waters.
Till then...back to life, back to reality...
What's next?
Spring semester: 2-3 courses
More acting? Yes, please!
