All y'all

(Backdated entry: 2026-02-09. Memories may have frayed...)

Auditions for Urinetown. I'd been thinking about getting back into theater since we moved and I realized there was an established community nearby, but it's taken a long time to find the courage. I had excuses earlier (shows that I didn't know or didn't look interesting, misaligned times for auditions or performances), but I didn't realize how scared I'd been until I was experiencing extreme anxiety in the house getting ready to go. Almost pulled out. Eventually talked myself down and made it to the theater (after frantically searching for my keys).

I went in hoping for Officer Lockstock, or maybe Cladwell, but I was trying to temper my expectations. I didn't know the politics of the theatre, and as well as I might do at the audition, I didn't know what talent might be there, or how much faith would be put into an unknown actor to be reliable. Still, I was pretty sure I could land Tiny Tom in the ensemble. But when I got there, the director was pretty upfront about not having a lot of the regulars available, so I thought I might have a good chance.

I felt like I'd made a good impression reading for Hot-Blades Harry. I did a reading straight (high-energy, barely controlled bloodlust), but got a chance to read a second time and went for something more Peter Lorre creepy, which got a lot of surprised laughs.

Finished the evening with prepared song "Not a Common Man" from American Psycho, which fit range and the theme of the show. I had been naive about the ability to get a karaoke backing track, but I eventually did some Audible hacking to get something passable.

I was asked to prepare "Cop Song" and "Don't Be the Bunny" for a potential callback for next week, which seemed like a good sign.

In the park today while walking the dog, I saw the girl blow a bubble that was picked up by the wind and taken up higher than the tallest tree in the park, then over three houses before I lost track of it. A more beautiful spectacle than anything later in the night.

Set an alarm(!) to make sure I didn't waste the morning by stealing extra hours of sleep. Managed to get some housework done. Eventually spent much of the day wrestling with Calibre Web to get my e-book server working again before remembering that it doesn't handle PDFs anyway.

Spent the rest of the day grilling a holiday meal: tri-tip, zucchini, and portabella mushrooms on the grill with cauliflower mash in the kitchen. The cauli mash didn't turn out well (too salty), but everything else was great.

"Rented" Hokum. Fun to watch with the fireworks booming nearby. Inoculation against jump scares.

Heard back about auditions, and I've been cast in the role of the "slimy landlord." It was definitely the least interesting role by character breakdown, but from the sides at auditions, it's clearly one pitched to get a lot of laughs. Read-through is on Sunday, though I should be able to see the full script before then. The only Urinetown cast member I saw at my audition didn't get cast, which is disappointing to me because I really liked working with her (Little Sally to my Officer Lockstock). Don't know if anyone else from the cast auditioned, so I'm waiting for the formal cast announcement rather than blowing up the main group chat.

Arrived at standup late after taking the car in for an oil change and minor tune-up. When I returned, the scrum master asked, "Tablesaw, do you like puzzles? We're doing a puzzle!" I expected to jump into something like a group solve of Connections, but instead it was an online jigsaw puzzle (66 pieces). I talked a bit about some of my puzzle background, and they were all suddenly glad to have had a two minute head start on me. Nobody had time to finish, but I did manage to get the highest completion of the group.

Have a friend over tonight that Psyche will drive to LAX tomorrow while we sleep in. Not much planned for the weekend (other than the read-through), and we're not sure if we're going to try to head towards any Independence Day celebrations or avoid them.

Learned today that one of my favorite local bands from college has put out a new album this year, their first since 1998. Looking forward to getting to know it better.

Woke up tired. Did some work. Decided to nap. Still tired plus mild fever. Negative on COVID/flu test, and seems intestinal. Calling out. Sleeping more.

And I got very nervous, you know, and I said, "Well, what is a beehive?" And he said, "Well, a beehive is, at eight o'clock a hundred strangers come into a room." And I said, "Yes?" And he said, "Yes, and then whatever happens is a beehive."

I might not have gone if it hadn't been framed as something of a farewell of a new friend and his wife. But if you're traveling across the country for graduate school, and you want your going-away party to be "a final paratheatrical experience," and you send an invitation directly to me, well then, I'm going to be there. Not a hundred people, and not strangers (though the majority of them were, to me).

Something of a "happening" is always a you-had-to-be-there, but I want to gloss some of my choices and experiences. It's been a long time since reading Grotowski, but I think I came in with different goals and methods than most of the group, which is, of course, fine.

• Brought a yule goat in response to a prompt for a "non-breakable, non-semtimental RITUAL OBJECT to share." This delighted a Swedish participant I had not previously met, who teaches students about the Gävlebocken every year. The goat now goes to her classroom for next year.
• Almost immediately decided to remove my glasses, leading to an experience of listening/observing from new perspectives. Spent time facing the wall to watch shadows, or face covered with hair.
• Chose to be deliberate and still often. A long period of stillness turned into a sort of primal scream and vocalization. When I returned to movement, I found someone had sketched me.
• Spent the last portion recovering fabrics scraps strewn about the space, which were from someone's pillow full of scraps. We talked about favorite patterns after the event.

Returned to the cineplex again tonight to watch Backrooms, which I enjoyed. I'm glad it's doing well, but I'm not too surprised, since it has a bit of the stink of the blockbuster on it. Preferred The Death of Robin Hood more.

Both nights, I ran into people I knew outside the theater. Today it was Old Man Strong and friends on their way to see Supergirl. Hope to see them again at a cast reunion, if the date ever gets settled.

Saw a police chase when I got home. Weirdly close. I guess the town is just that much smaller. Fewer chases (no helicopters), but very few streets to chase through.

Finished with the rest of Dimension 20, which was a killer episode. I love Oyama's character work this season.