I thought I'd try to post quickly using my new iTouch. Fancy that. It's pretty nifty, but I wish I had a neighbour with WiFi.

Oy!

I noticed that some time has passed since my last post, so I figured I'd type down a little something-something. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say I have a blog if I only use it bi-annually.

(Exactly) Four months ago I got a job with TV Media Inc in Orleans. I am a TV Listings Editor, which sounds pretty darned impressive. I write up TV listings for various publications (as you might have guessed), and I have my own little cubicle/computer/bulletin board. I'm living the office job dream I never knew I had.

Anyhoo. Around the time I got the job, I moved in with my Significant Other. This has been an excellent experience overall (but, like most excellent things, not without its challenges). I have returned to my habit of overusing brackets. Ah well.

Theatre-wise, I've been inactive. I haven't auditioned, written or directed anything since my Parks Canada job over the summer. The TV Media thing has been eating up most of my energy.

Actually, technically I wrote "something", but it was more in the roleplaying camp than the theatre camp, so I don't count that.

My birthday is coming up on the 26th, vast audience that reads this. I'll be turning 25, so don't forget to buy me a card.

Matthew

WHY IS RAY BESHRAH ON THE FLOOR?



BECAUSE HE JUST FOUND OUT THAT "BOOKWORM" WON "BEST IN VENUE"

Woot!

This means there is a BONUS SHOW on Sunday, September 24th at 9:30PM at Arts Court Theatre. Come see the show everybody's talkin' about.

OPENING NIGHT WAS A BLAST!

Look at these two happy actors. They are still thrilled about our reception for "Bookworm" (at Arts Court Theatre, 2 Daly Avenue) on Opening Night. Even though it was at 11PM, we still had a fantastic audience that was really responsive. Thanks to everyone that came! Tell your friends! Perhaps pork products and footgear should be mentioned... but keep that on the downlow.

YOU'RE STARS, EVERY ONE OF YA

Here's another publicity picture from Garkin Productions's "Bookworm". Here we see the unflappable duo of Ray Besharah and Amanda Klaman as Al and Lorrie.

HOW CAN YOU SAY "NO" TO THESE FACES?

Heya!

Here's a tasty preview shot from "Bookworm", premiering at the Ottawa Fringe Festival

I'm writing and directing it, and it stars Ray Besharah and Amanda Klaman.
Amanda's currently in the Ottawa Stilt Union production of "Beowulf" and Ray can be seen mostly naked doing Eddie May Murder Mysteries.

The show is a comedy and it's got a good chunk of schtick, so be sure and check it out.

UPDATE VOID

There has been a lack of updates, as of late. A million apologies.

First, the promised, though somewhat shortened, account of the "Colbert" taping. The first part, where he does rapid fire jokes about the evening's topics ("TONIGHT...") was very amusing, especially since he seemed to be on the verge of collapse as he spoke. The WORD was also excellent. As a couple of points during the taping, he lost his place on the prompter, causing him to sheepishly admit "I fucked up...". Then he conferred with the stage manager, figuring out where he should restart taping. Things were apparently going fine until "the pills started kicking in". When the audience laughed at that joke, he said "Don't humour me! I'm not humouring you! It's tit for tat!". They decided to take the taping from a camera switch, during which time he was taping his papers on the desk. It's funny because he was cracking up at they started taping again, so I can only assume that the broadcasted show had Stephen delivering a story, changing cameras, then suddenly and for no reason cracking up. I should have downloaded it to see what it looked like.

One of the main stories was a Sport Report (remember, that's pronouned "Spore Repore) on the subject of College Basketball. Apparently that's what Americans mean when they say "March Madness". I honestly had no idea up until this point. Despite my unfamiliarity, it was pretty darned funny. Such is the power of Colbert.

The interview was with a mountain climber. In keeping with the theme, Stephen "climbed" his way to the interview area. Besides the interview itself, I can't really dish any dirt. I can tell you that the stage manager guy has little cards that tell Stephen how much time he has left, so consider the lid of that bombshell to be blown off.

At the end of the show, Stephen thanked us for coming and we were herded back into the hard streets of NYC. On the way out, I tried to roll my twenty-sider on "The Desk:, but one of the security guards stopped me. Fair enough. I wouldn't want polyhedron marks on my desk if the situation were reversed.

Now, it is May, and I have returned to working at Parks Canada. We've got some new members of "The Maple Sugar Gang" and they are all of a friendly sort.

Also, I'm writing and directing a Fringe play for Garkin Productions called "Bookworm". The show features Amanda Klaman and Ray Besharah and it will be at Arts Court (the good venue, not the Library... UNNECESSARY BURN on the Library).

It's a comedy and it's funny. Everything I ever wanted from a show. There will be tasty updates on the rehearsal process as things move forward. I think I'll bring my camera to today's rehearsal, so maybe I'll put some pictures up here.

Other news: I didn't get cast in "She Stoops to Conquer", but lots of cool cats did. This includes Eddie May buddy Zach Counsil, all-around cool guy Scott Goldman and Ottawa treasure Paul Rainville. Third Wall has also announced their new season. They've got "Top Girls", "Empire Builders" and "Tartuffe" on the chopping block. I'm not the world's biggest Churchill fan, so I'll probably give "Top Girls" a miss. "Empire Builders" will be directed by Joel Beddows, so I will definitely see that one. "Tartuffe" is being translated by David Whiteley and directed by James Richardson. Good combo.