Hello!

Many greetings and salutations! Or, as the applicable meme states, "Hello from the otter slide!!!!" I have made it through the journey that was known as new Hampshire and working with Shakespeare in the Valley.

It was indeed quite the month with many ups and downs along the way. Rather than focusing on the downs, this is going to be an oppressively upbeat blog post about the tribulations of my summer and not the trials.

Let's start with New Hampshire herself. Most of my summer was spent in the small resort town on Waterville Valley, NH, the self-proclaimed home of free-style skiing. Based upon the sheer number of mountains in the area, I don't deny the potential that this claim was very true. This small town, whose population of permanent was less than 300 in the last census, was simply adorable. Nestled  within a national park, with mountains surrounding it, and very friendly people, I would highly recommend visiting this little gem.

We had the privilege of living with one of the locals and her adorable dogs in a beautiful home about a 30 minute walk from our main rehearsal and performance space. A lovely kitchen in which to cook, a 1920s grand piano on which to play, and a Roku with which to watch plenty of Netflix, the whole cast loved living together with our amazing Margaret!

Now, we didn't just hangout in Waterville, we had a little bit of a touring show. WV was our home base, but we took the show to Bethlehem, Manchester, Plymouth, and the Mount Washington hotel. We had the opportunity to manipulate the show to fit the demands of each particular location. Bethlehem, we performed in an old church that was currently being converted into a private residence. The acoustics were truly divine. In Manchester, one of my personal favorite spaces, we were on a children's playground complete with platforms, slides, and ladders. Plymouth, we performed in a more traditional amphitheater, with a lake as our backdrop. Everyone's overall favorite location was the Mount Washington Omni Hotel. LOOK IT UP!!! Some of the rooms were interior locations of The Shining, but don't let that through you off. The resort was truly a marvel to perform at, and a great place for a post show cocktail. 

I had the privilege to play three different characters, Don Armado, The Musketeer Porthos, and Cardinal Richelieu. In addition to that, I re-taught myself somewhat how to play the ukulele! We had a couple of songs in Loves Labors Lost that I accompanied.

The cast was filled with amazing performer whom I am delighted to call friends. Some of them are still in college, but all of them were consummate professionals. 

After the main shows were finished and strike was accomplished, some parted ways while the rest took a few days off before we started a workshop of a new musical. In my time off, I regained my face from the beard that was dominating it, I got a much needed hair cut, and then two of my company and I went on a day trip to Portland Maine. It was amazing! We did a two hour sailboat ride (a sailboat which was built in 1912 and is still in amazing condition), had some fresh lobster rolls, and belted show tunes in the car like nobody's business.

The workshop was a week of singing, singing, laughing at ourselves, and even more singing. I can't say too much as the whole thing is still in early development, but I hope we did indeed help in the process.

And that is that. A lot of work, a lot of fun, and a lot of sun.

Stay tuned, I have some more updates coming soon. In the mean time, catch my new video reel in the media tab.

Talk to y'all later!!!

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