For about six of my eleven years in prison, I lived and breathed theater. It was my primary creative output, sometimes consuming 60-70 hours of my week.  The last play I wrote and produced at Marion Correctional Institution was Easter 2001's Is This The King? (click here to hear a song from it). My friend Bill Hamann talked me into returning to the Ministry for a few months in 2002 to write songs for, serve as musical director for and (the real draw) play Judas Iscariot in his Easter play In Remembrance.  But by that time I was feeling burned out with the politics and long hours required to get it done well (and, of course, the requirement that every play be somewhat Christian in nature). Plus, I was hopeful that I would be getting released in the next couple of years, so I wanted to spend more time focusing on that (and some other things).

Since 2002 I've not been involved in anything strictly theater related, until now — getting my feet wet this Wednesday (1/18), our usual Lix and Kix night, during Writing Knights Press Presents: Playwriting Knights I. I'll be giving voice to two characters (Smokey and Don, a hippie and a thug) in a staged reading of Dru Brumbaugh's play Break a Leg at bela dubby art gallery and beer cafe in Lakewood (also our usual Lix and Kix venue).  The event begins promptly at 8 p.m. and will also serve as a 30th birthday celebration for Writing Knights publisher Azriel Johnson.  Apparently there will be verbal stage directions and we won't be off-book, so this is a step or two shy of a full blown production, but I'm gonna have a lot of fun with the script and I'm certain it'll be even more fun if you are present.

bela dubby
13321 Madison Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-221-4479

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