This one was an adventure. When Maggie originally asked me to do this one, my second reading with her, I sadly turned it down at first because I would be visiting my family in Wisconsin during the rehearsal process. Not just that, but the actual reading was the very same day I was flying back to New York City and I was worried I wouldn't make it in time. Maggie, however, insisted that she still wanted me involved and just told me just to show up that night and do my best. I wholeheartedly thank her for believing in me and trusting me because it turned out to be a fantastic experience.
As predicted, I was quite rushed: as soon as my plane landed at LaGuardia, I barely had enough time to run home and drop off my suitcases before rushing out the door again. Fortunately, I arrived at the performance space a few minutes after they'd started the rehearsal read-through, just in time to deliver my first line - sweat-soaked shirt clinging to my back (this was August, after all). Consummate professional that I am, I was able to cool down and collect myself before the actual performance.
This beautiful play, which drew on Maggie's work with homeless LGBT youth at Green Chimneys and their individual stories, explored the different processes by which queer people come out of the closet, as well as the various consequences that come of it. Maggie's brother Andrew Keenan-Bolger and I shared the role of Morgan, he playing the younger version and I the older. Craig Fogel was my interpreter and my voice. Other professionals in the cast were Broadway actors Allison Case, Jen Colella, Timothy Connell, Kevin Santos, and Maddy Trumble (whose father had been an understudy for the original production of CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD). Once again, we performed for and alongside many of the Green Chimney youth.
As predicted, I was quite rushed: as soon as my plane landed at LaGuardia, I barely had enough time to run home and drop off my suitcases before rushing out the door again. Fortunately, I arrived at the performance space a few minutes after they'd started the rehearsal read-through, just in time to deliver my first line - sweat-soaked shirt clinging to my back (this was August, after all). Consummate professional that I am, I was able to cool down and collect myself before the actual performance.
This beautiful play, which drew on Maggie's work with homeless LGBT youth at Green Chimneys and their individual stories, explored the different processes by which queer people come out of the closet, as well as the various consequences that come of it. Maggie's brother Andrew Keenan-Bolger and I shared the role of Morgan, he playing the younger version and I the older. Craig Fogel was my interpreter and my voice. Other professionals in the cast were Broadway actors Allison Case, Jen Colella, Timothy Connell, Kevin Santos, and Maddy Trumble (whose father had been an understudy for the original production of CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD). Once again, we performed for and alongside many of the Green Chimney youth.
