A Curtain Rises...

Welcome to this brand new blog. I suppose a brief introduction of me, and the blog are in order. By their introductory nature, dear readers, this initial entry or two will be longer than most of my regular entries. Please bear with my exposition. (Though if you already know me, none of the biographical stuff will be anything new to you.)

I am currently 27 years old, and I live in Frederick County, Maryland. My acting career, if you will, began in college, when I transferred to a school that required a fine arts course of some kind as part of the core curriculum. Based on my schedule that semester, (fall of 1999) I had my choice of a pottery class, or an acting class. I had no real faith in my abilities with clay, and so acting was the choice. I have been doing it ever since.

I actually ended up with a minor in theatre arts 3 years later. It was almost accidental, as it was not until my senior year that I discovered all of the classes in theatre I had elected to take were in fact leading towards a certificate.

I was in several shows during my college years, (which I will talk about at various times in the life of this acting blog.) After I graduated, I auditioned in various community theatres back home, but met with no success, (and much rudeness in some cases.)

I did eventually make the acquaintance of some other local actors at a monthly reader's theatre, sponsored by the Brunswick Community Theater. Through this group, I was made aware of a local production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, that at that time was in need of more males to fill some roles. The production took place in nearby Charles Town, West Virginia in a place called the Old Opera House. Upon calling the director and visiting the place, I joined the cast, and thus began a very satisfying and still active relationship with this small, but classy community theatre.

I called this blog "Always Off Book", because in the rehearsal process of a play, being off book (having all your lines committed to memory) represents the most prepared state one can be in to welcome the most creativity. I pride myself on getting off book very early on in a rehearsal process. I also pride myself at being quite prepared in the theatre of life. I try to always be prepared for what comes next, and hence, I am, in a manner of speaking, "Always Off Book."

I am, at the moment happy and proud to be a member of the local amateur theatre community. I have no stories of scrapping a living out of tips and three part time jobs, while eating only crackers in a small dingy apartment in the Bronx, as I try to make it big. If that is what you desire to read, I assure you there are many blogs to that purpose that I am sure you can find if you search.

The content of this blog will mostly consist of my observations about being an actor. (I use the term "actor" and terms like "his job" to mean men and women of course.) Because I feel that being an amateur in status does not at all equate with being an amateur in talent or knowledge, I offer this blog to the world. My hope is to relate to, inform, advise, and perhaps even entertain the readers of this blog, with my tales from and about community theatre and acting in general, as well as other relevant sub-categories that I will determine. This will be done in one of two ways.

1) By regularly publishing theatre related "mini-articles", once or twice every weekend. These articles will pertain to particular acting related subjects, some specific to community theatre, some that are hopefully more universal in nature.

2) By making entries during the week of anything I may experience that day which has a particular bearing on the subject matter. This will be especially true when I am in a production, as I am now. It is during the week I will cover odds and ends things that take place during the course of rehearsals, leading up to the big night.

So whether you are theatre minded or not, feel free to link me to your sites, and to enjoy what I offer.

Stay tuned.