Hey all fans (I think I might be the only one!). Just wanted to say that last Saturday night's Pig show was very smooth and very tight. We introduced our 2 new piglets, Laura and Tres, to the troop. First we started with a video though that Paula and Ali put together. It was their creation and they did a fantastic job. The concept is about all of us being in various places around Frederick and getting calls from one another about having a show tonight. My part is filmed mostly at Taco Bell.

First I am order things in Spanish (using words that have nothing to do with what's actually on the menu). The whole time I am on my motorcycle. Then I pull up, get my order and a call from Paula. I rush out on my bike.

Later it comes back to me, sitting on my bike, stuffing a taco in my face and getting it all over the place with Paula calling me back again asking if I am on my way. The whole time I am telling her that I am stuck behind a tractor trailer and on my way. Each of us have very funny parts.

Then we rush in and begin the show. I think we actually need to work on that part a bit because the audience is just kinda there. Not really sure what's happening. But they seemed to like it.

We played a bunch of short form games in our first set and introduced a couple of new ones that the audience seemed to like. After our intermission we came back and had them write suggestions on the back of the this little hand out that we give them at the door with our schedule. They rip off the bottom piece and keep the rest. The bottom piece has a place for them to jot down their contact info so that we can get them on our Pig list.

Okay, so this second set was not my favorite and usually I like this the best. Just the other way around for me that night. I think I liked the short form a lot better. The long form stuff we were trying to create didn't seem to go that well (or at least for me). I was going for the joke and it was becoming a very 'blue' show for me. But I am ALWAYS too critical. I never seem to be happy with my performance.

However, I did like the one hour show we did for the 72 Play Festival with Wendy, Mikael, and Pat (from Washington Improv Theater). This was held in Frederick and we had so much fun. Mikael and I are even talking about doing another project together.

At the moment though, I am so completely tied up with the Comedy Pig show 'There's a Run in My Ozone'. As you can tell by the title, it's our take on 'going green' and saving the enviroment. We have a bunch of zany characters and sketches that were all written by us. Ali and Paula spent the last 2 nights getting the frame work of the show together. They did an awesome job because there were a lot of challenges with the transitions, making sure everyone was in enough sketches, varying the types of sketches, and having a baseline or through line. In our case it is centered around a family with sketches in between scenes.

I am actually feeling pretty good about it now. It looks like we have something that could be very entertaining and funny. I am excited about doing it. Our cast is Paula, Ali, Anne, Laura, Tres, Clay, Frankie, and myself. Denny is directing and Carey is stage manager. So it seems we have a show now! And thank goodness cause it opens in about one month from the date.

Crazy busy week! Start off with a little improv with my troop, Gus, in Baltimore on Friday. Geesh, it took me 2 hours from Fairfax, VA to get there. It was an ugly commute. When I finally got there, we had a reporter sit in and take notes, ask questions about us and what improv is. She was a trooper - we had her do some exercises with us and then spent the last hour working on the improv play that we are planning in Dec. I will not be apart of it due to Christmas Carol. This will be my third year and I don't want to give it up.

Yesterday, Tuesday, I was asked by my friend, Mikael, to do some improvising for this 72 Hour Play Festival in Frederick. It was so much fun. We had an hour to do a full blown set with a bunch of scenes based off of these suggestions that the teams that are participating in the event got to choose. From the board we would pick things like, climax of a scene and/or character relationshiop and improvise a scene. The teams watched us and will then put together a full 10 minute show as a competition. Again, it was a lot of fun and the other 3 improvisers that I performed with were so much fun. It makes such a difference when you are out there with decent players.

Tonight, is the Comedy Pigs practice. We have so much to go over in 2 hours. Denny is the director of our summer show and we have few sketches submitted so far. I haven't written a thing. Actually, I hate to admit it but I started writing a monologue for our June shows, which opens this Saturday and next. I thought since our theme for the poster was Schools Snout for Summer and we used our graduation pictures, I would put together a 3 minute commencement speech. Of course, it would be something that could differentiate the younger with all of the hypocrisy of getting older (i.e. 40 is the new 20 and wisdom comes with age) kinda stuff. Something that our audience could relate to and laugh about. But I think I wrote too much and now I've got to shorten it a bit and polish out the funnier points.

Then tomorrow and Friday I have rehearsal for Wow, It Works in Hagerstown. It's a yearly play that the district does. My friend Dave writes it and then we perform it like 3 times. So, my mom and dad are coming to see it this weekend. Our show is this Saturday. As you can see my schedule is completely filled. And it's mostly 'cause I hate work and I like to do crap that doesn't let me focus too much on myself. Got to stay out of the head!

Oh, last night after that little performance. Ali taped me for this video that we are doing for the show. I can't get all into it but it's going to be hilarious. I was ordering food at Taco Bell on my motorcycle.

What...you want more? Well you'll just have to wait. I'm busy!