Sunday with Billy Shakes’ Pear

It’s the first full weekend in September and our production of Twelfth Night has wrapped and the stage is struck and I promised I would be back to my normal posting schedule and so here we are. It’s a rainy September weekend and I have a summer/fall crossover simmer pot on the stove and I’m catching up on podcasts while I type – it’s about time to break out the fireplace DVDs for ambiance – and it feels good to be back while also feeling a tad overwhelming after being gone for so long. 

Obviously the big thing that’s been going on is the two-weekend, six-show run of Twelfth Night that I’ve been working towards since May. You might remember that post from back then in which I said the only reason I even auditioned was that I’d told Krystal I was thinking of doing it, and she kept texting me all that morning essentially telling me I needed to go and actually audition instead of pushing it off like I’d done a few times before.

I’m glad I did, though I’ll readily admit I didn’t quite understand just how much this show would mean to me. It had been twenty years since I did any stage work, after all, and my experience then was less like an episode of Glee and more like an even more awkward version of the “Andy’s Play” episode of The Office. 

I was cast as Fabian before Krystal was brought on as stage manager, and after one of the first rehearsals she made the comment that people really seemed happy to see me and that I was being more myself than she expected. I brushed her off, saying folks were just being nice because this was a thing we’d all signed up for and that was that.

Oh honey, that’s not how this works.

Of course, she was right. 

Some of us went out for drinks and toast (thereby meaning I cannot afford a mortgage, according to boomers) and someone (not me) looked around and asked “are we . . . are we a group now? Is this a friend group?” And it turned out that every one of us felt the same way: awkward with few friends and so excited to have something to do we’d tell anyone who listen.

Yes mom, I’m going out with friends. Yes mom, I swear they’re real!

At one point we went and did an escape room and solved in under half the allotted time. I provided a running musical commentary and found a light sensor that bypassed a room-sized maze. There were times someone tried to ask me to solve a color-coded puzzle, but I took no offense and we all laughed about it by the end. 

Then there was the sponsor show, and afterwards our director found me and wanted me to know that someone had noticed my Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge t-shirt and commented on how well it fit my character arc. I had largely picked out my own costume pieces with direction from our amazing abs wonderful costumer and they both wanted me to know someone had seen and recognized my vision for the character and that was quite lovely.   

I submitted my own actor bio for the playbill, but even then I wasn’t quite prepared for seeing my pronouns used correctly where everyone could see them, or for hearing my cast mates gendering me correctly even when I wasn’t right there listening. I also wasn’t ready for the cards and small sweets from one of our sound technicians and a few of the other cast members. 

Speaking of sound technicians, for those of you not familiar with stage theater (as I was until this summer), when an actor has many costume changes they wear their mike pack next to their skin (in various places some more intimate than others) and to keep sweat from shorting out and frying the equipment the packs get wrapped in a condom. Two phrases I never thought I would hear but which give me a great chuckle even weeks later are: 

Oh, I’ll be right back, I’m all out of condoms!

I’m so sorry I’m dropping condoms all over you! 

I was also unprepared to have folks see and recognize my own Life Day last weekend (and today is Ampersand Day!), and the kindness even continued into the wrap party. I decided I would make apple pie because it’s the dessert I make best but also know that, historically, I’ve come away being the only person to have even taken a piece at any given event. But this time was different and I only took away a small piece back home with me. I had several folks find me to compliment it and our Sir Andrew told me he was a big pie fan and really like this pie and got a second piece larger than the first he had enjoyed. 

If you’ve been following along on this journey with me and weren’t able to attend the play for whatever reason, I have good news: because there’s no copyright on Shakespeare’s works, a full production of our show is up on YouTube!

And because I know some of you will want to skip to my scenes (though you should really watch the whole thing) you can find me at:

• 56:00
• 1:20:45
• 1:31:00
• 1:38:40
• 1:42:20
• 2:01:24
• 2:16:50
• 2:20:15

Maybe you don’t have all that time and just want the highlights. If so, you’re in luck! There’s a summary montage as well, though you’ll only see me in the background in this video. And that’s okay!

Huh. A lightbulb just blew. “Lasts thirteen years” my foot. 

So let’s see what else has happened. usually this would be the time I would volunteer in the Stanly-Speight duel reenactment but I was doing the play instead and did not want to overextend myself. 

There were times at work I was continually misgendered and there comes a point I have to assume it’s intentional. But then there are the folks that say something like “I know you use they/them pronouns and I see you use Mx in your emails – how do you pronounce that because I want to get it right?” and that just does so much for positivity. In case you’re wondering, Mx can be pronounced like “mix” or “mux” and I tend towards “mix”. 

A lovely cheese pizza just for me.

Krystal and I went to an improv comedy show for No 2 Pencil Day, and while the show itself was enjoyable, there were folks sitting near us that made it a less than stellar evening. Suffice to say that if If you go to an improv show and you ask me to give up my ticketed seat (that I chose on purpose) so your friend you didn’t know would be there could sit with you and then loudly criticize every audience suggestion and every game while glaring at everyone who laughs, then maybe improv isn’t the best use of your time and you should just stay home. 

I gave a big presentation at work that went quite well despite my own lack of self-confidence. Someday I will be able to internalize that I am indeed good at what I do; maybe that can be a resolution for the rest of this year and the coming year – good lord it’s going to be 2025 already!

Musically, I listened to a lot of My Chemical Romance, Rabbitology, and Chappell Roan.

I’ve also been watching a lot of Scooby Doo and the Alien movies (I have not yet seen Alien: Romulus) and realized I had never seen Prometheus or Covenant and wow I really liked them and I’m a little upset that we won’t get the third movie in that intended trilogy. 

And this last week I finally got to play D&D again after being out for several weeks due to rehearsal! Now to type up those notes at some point . . .

What have you been up to this past month?