Hello lovely lurkers, good seeing you. How’s it been going?
Me? Oh man that’s a long story and I’m somewhat in between one thing and another bunch of things right now, so. Eh, what the heck—I’ve got a couple paragraphs free, I’ll lay it down for ya.
The department I’m teaching for at DU goes by quarters, not semesters, so my Fall quarter has just now wound up. I had a Literary Genres class for the writing grad students, and a Visual and Physical Communication class for the undergrads. Also! Oh man I didn’t tell you this: one of my colleagues unfortunately got super sick as well as injured, and so had to give up his classes. I took both of them over about halfway through. They’re both a class called The Writer’s Life, which is a sort of orientation course for students just entering the Professional Writing program. It’s actually a newer version of a course I constructed at DU way back in the day when online learning was still brand new. So I ended up with twice the course load, which I’m fine with, not only because I do appreciate the work, but.
Turns out neither program within the department where I work has any classes to give me for Winter quarter. Now that I’m no longer at Metro, this means I get no income from January through March. Basically no job. Sure, I’m still writing for a website called Study.com, but that’s barely a Scooby Snack. So. Good thing I had those other two classes, eh? Yeesh.
So that’s DU. In Spring, I’ll actually have a class for them that I’ll have some in-person meetings for, which is truly wild. I don’t know when the last time was I had an in-person class. Was it my last stage combat class for Metro? Good thing it’s a quick train ride down to the DU campus, a much easier commute than it was when I was in Boulder.
I’m still doing some writing for a few different projects, including finishing up the line edits for my memoir. I figure since I’ll have a couple months without vast piles of grading, I’ll get that re-polished and start shopping it out again during that time. There’s still a blog post here and there for a couple esteemed sites that will go up soonish—when they do, I’ll be sure to link those for you here.
Theatre-wise, what’s going on? Hm…. Oh yeah! First, big news:
I was nominated for the regional Seattle Broadway World Awards for Best Actor for my work in 12th Night up in Olympia! Yay me! The company itself (Animal Fire) is also up for Best Ensemble, and our production is up for Best Play. Those are the biggies, and I hope we (or I) win! If we do and there’s a party, you best bet I’m going back up there to celebrate with the rest of the motley crew.
Blue Dime Cabaret is doing pretty much a First Friday monthly thing these days, with one exception in February so we can properly honor both my and my co-producer’s birthdays. But yeah! This Friday we’re doing a Winter Wonderland themed show at Dangerous Theatre again, and then we have a few lined up at the esteemed Herman’s Hideaway, which I’m looking forward to muchly. I’m actually choreographing a whole new piece for this one coming up—it’s a reverse burlesque. Which is exactly what you imagine that is: I begin scantily clad and add pieces of clothing, until I’m decked out in sparkly shoes and a fur coat and wool leggings and gloves and… it’s a pretty cute idea, and I like the unexpectedness of it, especially in the midst of a bunch of drag and normal burlesque, where you expect stripping.
I’m also looking into kickstarting my body-language-for-biz thing again, seeing that many companies are meeting again, having conferences, and needing that extra help with their public speaking and inter-communication skills. So I’m shilling that again, both for online meetings and in person. Remember that Your Body Tells Your Story thing I did before the plague? That’s the stuff. Wanna book me? Email me or reach out on Insta.
Speaking of booking me: I have managed to get a couple stage combat choreography and instruction gigs that are happening early in the new year, right when I’m out of work. So that’ll be awesome: Drake Middle School was one of those places I went back to every year before the plague hit, and now I’m finally able to go back. This year they’re doing Midsummer in their Shakespeare club, and I’m so looking forward to helping these kids sling steel and punches with their verses again.
The other stage combat gig is also a school, this one actually the high school where my older stepgoblin goes: Cherry Creek High. They got my reference from that all-woman/nb production of Richard III that I did fights for a few years back—remember that? Anyway, CCH is in need of a fight director for their production of Man of La Mancha. Which like, good on them, a high school, for doing that musical! Wow. Sounds like my time at Boulder High—gloriously ambitious productions! Anyway, I’m very much looking forward to meeting those folks and hopefully cultivating a continuing relationship with them too.
As far as other things I’m enjoying? Well you can get all that on the Outrider podcast, the second episode of which suffered some technical issues, and will be available for your earholes forthwith. I’m recording the third ep for that with Friend JQM this weekend, so I’ll keep you apprised of that too.
What else? That’s pretty much it, I think. I’ll see you around. Come say hi if you’re at the show this week, and if not, say hi here. (Eh, who am I kidding: there’s a reason I call y’all “lovely lurkers” after all)…
Daily Cross-Swords 