Somewhere That's Greene

No, the title doesn't refer to the recent Encores Revival of Little Shop that was by all accounts incredible.  Instead it refers to a town three and a half hours from the city.  They have an Equity theatre that is producing Jeff Daniels' comedy Escanaba in Da Moonlight about two brothers and their father on an annual deer hunting trip.  They are replacing a cast member, and conducted auditions to fill the role.

It was the first thing I submitted for in New York, through the Equity website, and I got an email from the Artistic director that I might be a match.  We set up an audition and I went to work.  I read the script, printed up the sides, made some notes, studied the Upper Peninsulan accent I would need to do the part (it shares some qualities with the Minnesotan accent, but is definitely distinct from it) and bright and early Sunday morning I did a couple readings from the sides.  I felt it was a really strong reading, but you never know.

Well last night I was told I'd booked the role, and as of this morning it's official!!  I'll be playing Reuben Soady, the elder son of the Soady family.  He's ever landed a buck, and if he doesn't do it this year, he will go down in the records as being the oldest one in family history to have never landed one.  It's a comedy very immersed in the UP culture, full of references to Pasties, home brew, drinking and hunting, and aliens.  Yep.

I leave on July 27th for six weeks in Greene.  I'll be living at the theatre with the rest of the cast, though I'll have a private room, access to a company car, and will have a day off each week.  It should be pretty exciting, and I should have plenty of time for other creative projects, so hopefully it will be conducive to writing.  Of course, as a human, I am completely against deer hunting, so it will be interesting to play a character that is so immersed in it, but we will see how it goes.  It's a story, after all.

I'll definitely send updates about how the show is progressing.  Right now Im just grateful to have found paying work so quickly that is in my chosen field, and affirms that there are good opportunities out here for actors and artists.  And Greene's high temps are typically in the seventies and eighties, so it will provide welcome relief from the heat.  Halleluj!!!