Horatio roulette

I finally managed to set up a few shots of myself this week. The one above is of the Grave Digger, who sings his grave digging song to the tune of May the Circle Be Unbroken. (Click images for larger versions in new window.)
I finally managed to set up a few shots of myself this week. The one above is of the Grave Digger, who sings his grave digging song to the tune of May the Circle Be Unbroken. (Click images for larger versions in new window.)
 Polonius reads Hamlet's letter to Ophelia ... "an ill phrase, a vile phrase."Our original Horatio, Nick Ryan.Our replacement Horatio, James Hamblin

Nick Ryan, our girthy 20-something Horatio, was admitted to the hospital with a recurrence of chronic heart problems over the break. He was replaced by James Hamblin, one of Adam Luckey’s Kentucky colleagues, but nobody knows who will play the role during our third and final week. Nick has been discharged, but Mr. Hamblin arrived for his one and only brush-up rehearsal at performance level after only three days’ preparation. We were most impressed. As I type this, he and Adam are driving back to Kentucky to ply their day trades until Wednesday, by which time Peggy Taphorn will have decided whether Nick will return or remain in retirement.

Mike Brocki got a double dose of bad karma this week, first hearing yesterday that a good friend had died of prostate cancer, then receiving a tearful call this morning from his fiancee, distraught over finding one of his five cats dead in the road outside his house.

divider-home

Peggy Taphorn caused quite a kerfuffle when she announced at a recent city council meeting that Temple will close this month if $120,000 isn’t raised to offset the current shortfall. The recession is blamed for disappointing ticket sales this season, which, interestingly enough, follows Temple’s best season ever. Hamlet traffic remains respectable, but not the 170/night budgeted. On Friday, we came as close to filling our 350-seat space as we’re likely to when roughly 300 high school students were bussed in for a 9:30 matinee.
Due largely to the $23,000 in donations received since her much-publicized city council appearance, Peggy has decided to move ahead with Moonlight and Magnolias.