After two days of hard work outside, averaging 3 – 4 hours of shoveling and chopping ice, we are sore! Truly exhausting. But it had to be done. And we have to re-salt every morning as the slush and snow freeze again overnight. Next week it’s supposed to rain, so this snow might be short-lived.

Tomorrow, I go into the city to do one more day of work on the show on which I’ve been consulting. Today, I have to sit down and figure out how to hook up our new printer. Our old one stopped scanning clearly and was a pain in the tush. (I’m the tech person in this household.)

Our good friend, Richard Easton, died on Monday. He was born in Canada and trained in England. He worked with everyone over the years, including John Gielgud. He was in Kenneth Branagh’s movie version of Henry V. I met him when I moved to San Diego. He and Jack O’Brien, who was the Artistic Director of The Old Globe at the time, had known each other for years. Richard moved to San Diego to be a part of the Globe as an Associate Artist, actor, and teacher. He was an extraordinary actor. As well as coaching him in countless productions during my 8 years there, he also served as an actor/mentor to our students, so he was my colleague. The remembrances that are springing up on Facebook from our former students are heartwarming and filled with love. He was rigorous in his approach to a role and in his approach to acting. And every one of our students benefitted from that rigor. What a role model he was!

As a coach, I’ve never seen someone so willing to take my notes, indeed, he asked for them after every run-through. He wanted correction, guidance, whatever I could offer. Truth be told, he was so good – especially with Shakespeare – that I hardly ever needed to note him. Dialects? Yes. Shakespeare? No.

I loved working with him, knowing him, socializing with him. What an honor it was. And a joy.

Eventually, he moved back to NYC, where he promptly won a Tony Award for his performance as  A.E. Housman in The Invention of Love, directed by Jack O’Brien. When Don and I moved East, he called me and asked me to coach him on a period sound for his portrayal of Benjamin Franklin on PBS. I was just starting to freelance and was feeling adrift after working full-time as a professor. But he, bless him, was a generous and loyal friend and reached out to me for help. I treasure that last experience of working one-on-one with him.

His health declined in recent years. I hadn’t seen him in quite a long time. But he was cared for and watched over by two actor friends who were committed to his well-being.

He will be sorely missed. In the past few years, we have lost our friends, Kathy McGrath, Jonathan McMurtry, and now Richard. All brilliant actors. All Associate Artists at the Old Globe who lived in San Diego for several years in order to work with Jack. It’s the end of an era.

Rest in Peace, my friend.

Happy Wednesday.