Apologies to all for having faded from these pages for several weeks. It turns out to be a very busy time under this program, teaching, in rehearsals, mentoring, and so on. It's also been difficult just finding sufficient time to avoid doing all the things that need to get done for the bigger picture....like TAXES!! Ahhh, there, that's out now....breathe, just breathe....
The good news to share is that we have been offered another season here at Cornell, and have decided to accept the offer. In addition to our usual teaching responsibilities, Sonja will be performing as Lady Bracknell in Ernest, and I will be doing Hector (the Griffiths role) in The History Boys, with casting for the rest of their season (Loves Labours Lost, 2 new plays, and Leonard Bernstein's Mass) to be decided later. That will start again 2nd week of August or thereabouts, and we spent much of the past couple of weeks securing digs for next year (housing goes fast here in Ithaca....with two universities the housing stock is largely insufficient for the demand, and so prices are awful and even the shabbiest of places are rented by mid spring), which we're very happy with....we found a larger space for less money with acres of backyard romping space for Bea Lillie (Mac doesn't do much romping anymore, I'm afraid, but he's hanging in there), an available 10 month lease, and the Holy Grail of apt. hunting, a washer/dryer!! Yippee!!!
We finish up this year by the first week of May, and as we had to pay our 10th month on this lease, will use the time to travel to Martha's Vineyard for a couple of weeks to work for our dear friend Wendy and visit with her, then put this household into storage for the summer and return to Philly by end of the month, beginning of June. No idea what the summer will look like at this point; some combination of unemployment, temp work and maybe something under the table (like dogwalking again) if we can find it. Cross that bridge when we get to it.
Otherwise all goes well here. We are currently struggling through the trenches of a (at this stage of things anyway) largely uninspired As You Like It, Sony doing Corin, the Old Shepard-ESS!!, and me in the guise of good old Duke Senior, again. The truth is that as we move further toward performance and out of rehearsal, what becomes increasingly apparent is just how indestructible this play really is, especially at this time of year...hard to do really well, but hard to completely screw it up. We'll end up somewhere in the middle I guess, and that's fine.
Sonja's health is good and holds steady. As mentioned in earlier posts, she is likely to be in A Fib. for the rest of her life, and that can be handled medicinally. Her strength improves in increments, but it does continue to improve...she's teaching again and in rehearsal and mentoring, a full schedule. She will probably always have to find ways to integrate naps into her schedule from now on, but hey, how bad is that really?! It's wonderful to see her working again, and the students adore her (a perspective I'm not unfamiliar with myself).
Thanks to all who've enquired after us on this ongoing journey....and thanks to all who've continued to use this blog as a way to stay in touch!! We'll update again sometime soon; meanwhile, stay well, take care, and as always, love from us both!!
-- Paul
P.S. -- A special thought goes out to all of the current MFA students at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, left in Limbo at this point while ASF and UA struggle over the future of that program. If your unfamiliar with this particular debacle and would like to know more, I've listed a couple of sites below for more information.
www.asfmfa.blogspot.com
www.ipetitiions.com/petitiion/asfmfa/
