Its Sunday night, I click into my email. the usual junk mail, jokes from friends, that sort of thing. One stands out however. It was from a friend I had taken an advanced acting class at Harvard with over a year before! I click on it. She needs someone to fill a role in a play she is directing/producing. It is unfortunately really last minute, as the play is going up in three weeks. But "it is a small role afterall, do you think you could look at it and help me out here?" I reply to her, "Why not? Send me the script and I will see what I can do for you..."

Thus began what would become my first theatrical experience. I was not prepared for how much effort it takes to be involved in a play of any scope. I immediately thrust myself into robot-mode. I had to learn the most pages of script I have ever been responsible for in one sitting. This "small" part was pushing forty pages! Small to me would be a scene or two...

[Big guy stands upstage, rubs hands, sighs: "The trees are lovely, aren't they?"-End scene]

Now, I have never considered myself a stage man. My interests have always laid with the silver screen as far as my acting was concerned. I had always regarded theater as "that other thing actors do." I always found the idea of it intimidating. Camera acting feels quite a bit safer. You make a mistake, you go dry, you drop a line, you sneeze, whatever, you have the luxury of another take. Its hard to fail in that environment.

Despite all of that, I always knew I would have to try my hand at it. It made me feel the fraud having never experienced the stage and still call myself an actor.

This was the perfect opportunity to get some chops and really get a feeling for what they mean by that "Performer's High". For my first work, I don't half-pick my roles. It was a comedic role, so at least it was within the realm of my interests. Now all I had to do was take every waking moment between now and curtains up to prepare.

When I say "every waking moment", I mean just that. I disappeared at lunch everyday at work to bury myself in the script. I was carrying this tome to and from the men's room, the bedroom, the living room...I might as well have grafted it to my hand. After a week and a half I knew it cold. That kind of surprised me, but I didn't have time to pat myself on the back. Before I knew it we were on.

It was a tiny room at the Boston Chinese Community Center. The largest crowd we had was about 40-50 people, most of them friends and family of the cast. We only did two shows, 8-10pm both nights. The set was made of cardboard boxes and whatever people could scrounge from their collective possessions. It was theater at what would probably be its most low tech, short of performing it on the street. The room was hot and cramped without the slightest breath of fresh air.

We had an absolute blast.

I learned so much about my craft and myself in this performance. I gained new tools that I will be able to take with me throughout my journey in this crazy business. On top of all that, I have made some genuinely great friends, with a shared experience and a shared passion.