It turns out that life is not entirely about traumatic brain injury in the military! Life is also about MAKING THEATRE! (Imagine Leslie doing the happy dance now.)

I’m thrilled to announce the start of ACT ONE’s Festival 2012, my first Fest as Associate DIrector of ACT ONE. It’s all happening at the West End Studio Theatre at 959 Islington Street in Portsmouth, and events will include ten shows and four concerts between August 9 and October 28.

The lion’s share of credit and praise go to my Executive Director, Stephanie Nugent, as well as her Board and all the artists and volunteers whom Stephanie has gathered into the ACT ONE fold over the last thirteen years. I’m deeply honored to be helping her to co-produce the Festival, and also to participate as a performer and director.

The Festival starts with The Drawer Boy, a Canadian drama by Michael Healy. Directed by Stephanie Nugent, this play unearths a mystery dating back to WWII, when best friends Angus and Morgan headed off to England and their lives were changed forever. Interestingly, Stephanie chose this play to direct before we discovered our TBI project–but it also features a character who suffered brain injury during combat. This theme seems to have grabbed us by the lapels!

The second show up is Sylvia, a comedy about the love between man and man’s best friend by A.R. Gurney. Directed by Michael Tobin, Sylvia features the lovely Leslie Trentalange, who is pulling double duty in this year’s Fest. . .

Every show in the Festival is unique, and you can read all about them, as well as ticket and venue information, at www.actonenh.org. But I’ll take another few lines to tell you about my events in the lineup:

Clean Room is my solo masked show, and you can read about it in detail here. It’s set in the waiting room of a mental hospital, and I guarantee that you haven’t met people quite like my characters Brighina and Stupino before. It runs September 21 & 23 and October 5 & 7. On the 7th, the final performance will be followed by an MSIM/nh preview event with special guest Kate Wenner! (Clean Room addresses mature subject matter and is not intended for children.)

Tragedy: a tragedy was written by Will Eno and depicts the last day on Earth, as described by your local newscasters. It’s got gorgeous, funny, slightly off-kilter language, and I’ve cast five tremendous actors in it: Peter Josephson, Leslie Trentalange (of Sylvia fame), Robert Macadaeg, Chris Leon, and Joe Berardi. With costume design by Michele Macadaeg and sound design by Michael Kimball, I feel like I’m “driving the Porsche” with this production! (Costume design is graciously underwritten by The Atticus Group, LLC.) Tragedy: a tragedy runs October 19-27. Check out www.actonenh.org for all the details, or email me for more information.

I so look forward to seeing you at the West End Studio Theatre during Festival 2012! I have to dive back into my favorite part of theatre directing: managing the rehearsal schedules. Seems that’s a dirty job that’s never quite finished. . .