It’s hard for me to believe, in retrospect, that I’m sitting here tonight, next to Lake Garfield in Massachusetts reading Eric 
Overmyer’s play Native Speech for the second time and just realizing that when it was first staged in 1985 with Samuel L. Jackson and Jimmy Smits, I was four years out from having been in the play All the Way Home at Kenyon Festival Theater’s production of Tad Mosel’s play. The contrast in the two types of theater productions is astonishing. That I would be sitting here all these years later thinking about it just shows how far away from the nature of theater that I have moved and that American Theater itself has moved.
This was at the same time that Carol Kane was starring in A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Graham Beckel, who later was in L.A. Confidential, was my “dad” (I was the understudy to Rufus) and J.T. Walsh was my “uncle”.
Damn.
Just one night’s thought.
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Went and saw Grace and convergence on Friday night. It was a very emotional and thought provoking stab at religion, faith, and science, and I thought, successful. Especially scene five, which for convergence was the first scene after the intermission. In the scene Sam (John Busser) attempts to get rid of Sara (Laurel Hoffman) because Sam is falling for her. The attempt ends up doing quite the opposite, however, it is only after an discussion of faith and belief led by Sara. The discussion was very moving and honest. The play is somewhat ironic in that the other main character in the play Steve (Doug Kusak) is a born-again Jesus freak who at the end of the play loses all faith and commits a murder suicide, whilst the faithless Nasa IT person (Sam) ends up finding faith and a reason to embrace life.
I’ve also seen a number of other plays: The Hyacinth Macaw at convergence, which I felt was truly fantastic. Mac Wellman takes flights in language and thought that are comprehensible on a level that exceeds thought and almost touches intuition. I saw God of Carnage at Dobama, which was a funny play. Saw Peter Roth’s thesis in Pittsburgh, and a whole host of things I’m sure that I’m forgetting.
I am now squarely focused on creating. I have written two plays and one screen play since October 2011. I have another play that is about to get underway, which I hope to finish by October 1. I am busily sending out my plays to see if I can get them staged. As well, I am hitting Linoleum cuts again pretty hard and hope to pump out a children’s book for both of my kids by December. I’ve got a children’s book that I wrote a decade ago which I will start editing soon.
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Overmyer’s play Native Speech for the second time and just realizing that when it was first staged in 1985 with Samuel L. Jackson and Jimmy Smits, I was four years out from having been in the play All the Way Home at Kenyon Festival Theater’s production of Tad Mosel’s play. The contrast in the two types of theater productions is astonishing. That I would be sitting here all these years later thinking about it just shows how far away from the nature of theater that I have moved and that American Theater itself has moved.