And in the blink of an eye... 2017 in review

When last I wrote I mentioned the roller coaster ride that is an actor's life. 2017 offered much in support of that metaphor. Lost friends, more VO work, stage and film opportunities, a new home, performances in Los Angeles, new connections and networking opportunities and a new agent in Chicago. 2018 promises to be more of the same, but before we ring in the new year, allow me to attempt a proper farewell to this one.

The flickering out of the light that was Laurie Carlos was followed far too quickly by the silencing of the music that was dear mentor and friend, J. Otis Powell‽ His passing, while ending his suffering, has left a hole in our community and in my heart. My final words to him were harshly poetic, and a response to a challenge he offered the audience that evening. I do not wish to take them back, I rather wish I had an opportunity to discuss them in greater depth over brunch - my favorite meal and one for which we shared an affinity. I will always listen for his voice in Jazz, in the quiet spaces between and the righteousness of chaotic rhythm. Rest in power.

Still, as life takes it also gives and I have been monstrously fortunate in the new faces and friends 2017 has brought to me. I shot, most of, a film in Green Bay with the people in this next group of photos. Some of the most challenging work I've tackled on camera to date, and I'm very honored to be working with them. More to come as we complete filming and work toward a release.

Speaking of challenging work, this fall I performed in two back to back stage productions in Minneapolis, followed by 9 days in LA staging a showcase at the Ruby on Santa Monica Blvd. Words cannot properly express the profound gratitude and love I have for all those who made the below series of photos possible. As my circle gets bigger my world gets smaller and the more space I find in my expanding heart.

Intuition and the Mantis, Rogues Gallery Arts (Pictured Tim Uren and Philip D. Henry; Not Pictured Duck Washington and at least a dozen other magic makers!)

Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus, Green T Productions (Show included the talents of  Misty Brehmer, Lisa Conley, Derek Dirlam, Miriam Gerberg, Avian Jangula, Matt Kelly, Matthew Kessen, Heather Quigley, Jennifer Rathsack, Ki Seung Rhee, David Schneider, Mickaylee Shaughnessy, Erik Sorensen, Loren Vork, Ryan Voss, Natalie Rae Wass, and the Taikollaborative, Wendy Ruyle (5by5 Design), Kathy Welch, Rick Coleman - many of whom are pictured here, but not all)

LA Showcase (Wide Variety Theater, "Television Theatre") performers (Rene Collins, David Nassau, Babatunde Oyewo, Molly Elizabeth Ring, Krystel Seier, Rosa Servin, Gregory Dean Tompkins) pictured but of course the ground crew (Sandra K. Horner and team) for such an endeavor is legion and somehow manages to keep out of pictures. I must say one should keep their eyes out for these faces, though. Great things are coming.

New headshots (on the Gallery page). Celebrating my friend Ruth Maramis's "Hearts Want" film release. The sudden deaths of Grant Hart and Charlie Bethel. The final completion and almost immediate acceptance into a film festival of "Rumination"... It goes on and on, this ever turning wheel of joys and sorrows which makes doing true justice to 2017 impossible. But as we look 2018 in the eyes in a few days, know that I do so with hope and love in my heart and a renewed energy and comittment to leave this world a better place than I found it. 

​Many blessings to you and yours!!