R.I.P. Hurlyburly, and if this is the way the world ends, then T.S. Eliot can suck it. At the last, and through all of the smoke (a difficult script, the unfortunate loss of our first director, an unwelcome beastie making its way onto the set from the bowels of an old stove), we heroically managed 5 of 12 before being felled not by the critics, who rather enjoyed us (well, not all of us -- depending upon who you read, I was either one of the best things about the show or decidedly the worst), but by the unanticipated and permanent absence of our lead, the dynamic and sorely missed Ryan McCarthy. (No, he's not dead, just gone for a while, and yes, I wax poetic. Sue me.) While remaining one of the area's finest and most vital theatre companies, powerhouse not-for-profit Jobsite nonetheless finds itself at a disadvantage when it comes to employing understudies: it can't. If you've ever read David Rabe, you'll understand this means that if a production of one of his philippic brainchildren ever loses its lynchpin without a ready replacement, well ... you're screwed. So, we closed, and like an RCA Red Seal Broadway cast recording of a great show that unconscionably folded after 32 runs, the proof is assembled on a disc of pix that we took as a matter of record on yet another of Brian Smallheer's meritorious sets. I'm afraid I wasn't there in spirit, but once I get around to fleshing out this site, perhaps I'll show them to you some day.

But Hey! -- We rocked what we could, and I was once again awarded the honor of sharing the stage with a stellar cast of pros who all deserve mention by name: Meg Heimstead, David Jenkins, Dan Khoury, the aforementioned Mr. McCarthy, Sarah McKenna and Katrina Stevenson. Thanks as well to Jason Vaughan Evans, who piloted this monster off the ground, Shawn Paonessa, who brought it in to land, and Amanda Schreiber, who saw to it that all the gears worked in the process.

And for the first time in two straight years, I'm taking a break.

Why am I nervous?...

(Please check back in a month or so to see that I haven't gone John Nash.)