You want to write a Blog-type thing. You want to comment on what you and others have been doing, what's influenced you, what's driving you crazy. But you get real, real busy, you neglect it, and you have to go back and review. That's what I've done. The easy way. With word association. Here's the shows I've been doing that have been keeping me busy, along with a few random words about them.

August, 2014 SEX, DRUGS, ROCK & ROLL A new director (Rachel Tibbetts, Sarah had to be out of town.) Some great shows. Bogosian more relevant than ever (where are you, Deanna Jent?) Some rapturous reviews. (Where have you gone, Malcolm Gay?) Some empty houses, small as the venue was. (Just what are you doing with your time, St. Louis Theatre Community?)

November, 2014 BUS STOP Chance to direct a 50's classic. And at Webster Groves Theatre Guild, where early Inge and Tennesse Williams work was produced. Very comfortable place to work. Very congenial cast, who bought into my view of the 50's – not Eisenhower suburbia, but a seething, roiling time, when it was a wide open country, rock & roll was rising out of hearts and minds, and an entire generation was coming to life. Loved it.

November, 2014 A RAISIN IN THE SUN at The Black Rep. Playing "the white man at the door" in this strong production, right in the middle of the Ferguson troubles. A special occasion show, a committed cast and rapt audiences. Enjoyed my "thankless" (according to the critics) role. Coming in at the end to set up the principals repudiating the racist offer to buy their dream home out, I felt like a point guard on a basketball dream team, coming down court to set up somebody to dunk.

January, 2015 More SEX, DRUGS, ROCK & ROLL With another week at Herbie's to work, revived the show again. Just as much fun, better crowds with a shorter run.

April, 2015 Shake38 HAMLET Recruited by R-S to do their near full-blown one-night stand of the show. As the Player King and the Ghost of Hamlet's father. Good exercise.

June, 2015 HOUSE at The St. Louis Fringe Festival Em Piro had come to the January SEX DRUGS and lit a fire in me to do a Fringe show. Found MacIvor's HOUSE (had done his CUL-DE-SAC a few years earlier, and this one was made for Fringe.) An awful lot of fun to perform, and excellent response. Still feel Fringe has some work to do, some growth to wrestle with. The thing is not going to last on nervous energy alone.

July, 2015 THE GOOD THIEF and ST. NICHOLAS Rebuffed in my goal to get the TITLE AND DEED rights and in beginning efforts to write a St. Louis play, decided to go big and present revivals of both of these one-man shows. Gratified with how good it was to revisit both of them, shocked with lack of attendance. Critics loved them both, as did a select group of patrons – one, a new friend from Chicago who loves Conor McPherson, declared it the most exciting night he's experienced in theatre; others equally enthralled. But, again, it was hard drawing audiences to these one-man revivals at Herbie's. Tough theatre landscape these days,

August, 2015 ONE FLEA SPARE with Slightly Askew. Good antidote to the lack-of-audience-poison of the McPherson shows. Hard, hard work on a challenging script. But a great production and committed cast resulted in what one critic called "one of the best shows of the year."

So that's how I spent the last year. Kind of tired now. Kind of busy again looking for the next shows we're doing.