If you were looking to see A Midsummer Night's Dream this past weekend, you did not need to go to Central Park to watch the Public's Production. You could've stayed right in Times Square and watched hungry, young actors take a stab at Pyramus and Thisbe. Because at any one time, Shakespeare is happening all over New York City. And if you decided to see the show in Times Square, well, then, you'd have seen me, playing the role of Starveling/Moonshine, as there's a play within the play. It's a bit role, but bit roles were meant for me, as I hate memorizing lines and get nervous each and every time I go on stage, just like Moonshine. I could do Broadway, but only if I played "Guy #8 with the fedora."

I came into the rehearsal process late, and learned everything the week of the show. It's a hard thing to do, to come into a play mid-rehearsal. I've done that before (see Acting the Fool) and it didn't turn out well, but that was 9th grade and this was adulthood. Children are so cruel. Adults just don't care. It was easy to acclimate into, and I fit the role well. I just worried that I was playing the character, hogging a valuable acting role from some other starveling New York actor. (👀) But alas, I was not.

I went thrift store shopping at H&M for pants for my costume. I say thrift store shopping, not because I was thrifty with money, but because I was thrifty with pants material. I don't see the need to go back into H&M, unless I want to buy another pair of turnicates, I mean khakis. Everything is sold at a standard pants length of 32. Good, cause I'm a 30. I looked silly taking one item into the dressing room, when every girl around me was carrying whole clothing racks from the the second floor. I just had to remind myself that this was all for the love of my craft and hatred of my wallet.

All in all, the shows went well. Except for a couple of runs where my girlfriend tripped on stairs in the dark, I'd say the play went up great. There were only three performances, all which were at semi-off peak hours. The only problem was that the bathrooms on the floor that we were performing on were broken. You had to go up a floor or down two floors. So, needless to say, we all took turns peeing in each other's backpacks backstage. It was fun. We even invited the audience back to tinkle a bit too. Talk about immersive theater.

It was a lot of fun. 10/10, would do again. I actually would have liked more than three performances, if for no other reason than to really nail my eight lines. The last show's audience was tough to crack, and I was ready to attempt to make them laugh. But, it's over. And that's ok. We did it for us and we did it for the people who saw it. I felt good about it and it broke me out of my shell a little bite more. This stuff terrifies me, but sometimes, if you grab onto that fear and shake it's hand, it really does make things easier.