So my turn as “Elbow” in MEASURE FOR MEASURE at A Noise Within (Pasadena) last fall has really started a trend. This summer I’ve had the joy and pleasure of working with the fine folks at the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival in Thousand Oaks in two classic plays: “The Taming of the Shrew” and “The Merchant of Venice.”

Amazingly enough, Kate’s final monologue in “Shrew” only got the feminist hiss once, at which point Kate stared down the offender and delivered the rest of the monologue straight to…. erm… at her. This is why i love live theater. I played Hortensio in Shrew, and am playing Launcelot Gobbo in Merchant, where I’m injecting my own brand of modern sensibilities. In order to make Gobbo’s soliloquy about the argument between the devil and his conscience work, I’m actually pulling unsuspecting audience members out of the audience, on stage with me, to make them A) be the devil and my conscience and B) SAY SHAKESPEARE’S WORDS! It’s a blast, and people are falling out of their camping chairs every night. Did I mention the stage is in a lovely park with creek running through it and frogs chirping all night long?