Next Up..Everyman

It has been a while since I've been able to post about actual acting news in my life here on the blog. And though details are still being worked out and rehearsals have not yet begun, I can say that I will be appearing in a "private production" if you will of the medieval morality play, "Everyman". I will be the title role.

For those not familiar, morality plays were often used in the Middle Ages by the church to teach values and spread the Christian Gospel. At the time, theater itself was often viewed as a sinful, bawdy undertaking. But morality plays were permitted, given the subject matter, and the ostensible goal of saving souls and what not.

This playwright is unknown, as is the case with most such plays of this period.

I shall play a man for whom death personified has come. The man, representing all men, in case you have not determined that, seeks among those who knows for company to go with him on his large, arduous journey. Friends, material, love, and other such concepts are represented on stage by single characters, all of whom abandon Everyman. In the end only God is faithful, as one might expect from a play of this nature.

It is unlike anything I have yet done, though my work in Shakespeare is probably the most similar, from a linguistic standpoint. It's not written as Shakespeare is, but even the more "modern" texts of the script have a certain poetic cadence that will be a challenge to master.

As an actor, and a blogger I have often advocated for challenging one's self and stepping outside of certain comfortable boundaries, and this will be one of those times for me. I will mention more when the actual production process begins, but I wanted to take the chance to announce it here.