Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Dame Scout thanks you for all the birthday greetings. She considered it a sort of spa day: sleep, eat, sleep and sleep again, eat, with lots of loving from the parents who also sang Happy Birthday to her, then a plate of treats, then sleep.

Amazing that our little girl is 17!

I’ve been working with the script for Romeo and Juliet.

On my new desk, in my little office space, I might add! There’s lots of room to spread out and some privacy. (Though this cottage is so small, I can have a conversation with Don when he is downstairs in the living room without raising my voice. Yikes.)

My goal when I start to analyze the script, the meter, the words, and the meaning of those words is to tackle an act a day. Shakespeare’s plays consist of five acts. I worked on Act One on Sunday. Act Two was finished yesterday. Today will be devoted to Act Three.

I have a lot of reference books – all of which will go along with me to Hartford. I often compare different editions of the plays because the editors’ notes vary. The big volume you see is my Riverside Shakespeare. The paperback is the Arden Shakespeare, which I already had on hand from a previous production of Romeo and Juliet. (I’ve coached it twice before; both times at the Old Globe – once with a young Neil Patrick Harris as Romeo, by the way.)

I have no idea what Darko plans to do with this production, but I know it will be stunning and exciting, simply because I’ve worked with him so many times and have witnessed his brilliance over and over again. I’ve worked with at least three of the actors before and I like them very much. But as we all know, I often encounter an actor who says I look familiar and, after some discussion, we realize that we’ve worked together before.

It happened again when I worked on that musical version of The Seagull  a couple of months ago. I’d coached one of the actors at the Old Globe. He remembered me. Sadly, I didn’t remember him. Not because of anything to do with his talent – he’s a wonderful actor – simply because I’ve coached so many productions and worked with hundreds and hundreds of actors over 30 or so years. That’s not even counting the students I have taught and coached.

I used to pride myself on the fact that I never forgot a name or a face. Of course, I was younger then and that has something to do with it, but it’s also a simple case of numbers. The more people I work with, the more people I have to keep sorted in the filing system that is my brain.

The files are spilling out of the drawers, I’m afraid.

Decor8, a hugely popular site run by Holly Becker (who also teaches courses on blogging) has a great post today entitled, “Will Blogs Survive 2016?” I love what she has to say about blogging, and the risks we run when we do too many sponsored posts, have too many ads, or lose the essence of what drew us to blogging in the first place. You might find it very interesting.

I love Instagram, but it can never be anything other than a quick picture and update. And that’s fine, sometimes that’s exactly what I’m in the mood for. Blogging is about depth, about storytelling, about the conversation that goes on between author and reader.

I’m never entirely comfortable with ads, but I need them. Even though they bring in only a very small amount of money, they support the cost of running this blog. And they help pay for a bill or two along the way, which is very welcome. But the essence of this blog will always be personal content with the rare, and I mean rare, sponsored post.

I promise.

Happy Tuesday.