North To Alaska: Day 2

**NOTE: Edited 6/16 after some sleep

Hey folks

I didn't do so well at posting a wrap-up last night... Trish and I were just too wiped out after all the travel (and performing in Two-Thirty by Rand Higbee for the Fringe Festival).

The performance was a pretty rough; Trish and I had the lines down all right, but we never got to work with the props needed for the show (it's a broad, Marx Brothers-style comedy). Still, the audience laughed a fair amount and we go through it.

The conference is in full swing now... I've had an amazing day full of connecting up with old friends (like Mike Daniels, Laura Forbes, Michael Hood, Paul Swaigert, Shannon Siedel, Bostin Christopher... the list goes on and on). Valdez is, of course, beautiful; overcast and a bit chilly (the average temperature this week is supposed to be in the mid-50's).

Around noon I sat on a panel focused on actors' decisions to move to different markets and the business of acting. Frank Collison, Laura Gardner, Darcy Halsey and Bostin Christopher were also on the panel. A lot of good informaiton got shared about the business of acting, in LA, New York, and even in our small little burg of Portland, Oregon (people seemed surprised to find out that there's so much going on in the Rose City). There was even a student from Forest Grove in the audience that I had a nice conversation with afterwared.

After the panel, I rehearsed an amazing play by Daniel Damiano called Day of the Dog (the Playlab reading is tomorrow afternoon- Some theater in Portland would be wise to contact Danny for a review copy - it's funny, poignant, and wonderfully well written).

After a quick dinner at Valdez's Fu Kung restaurant (not the best Chinese food I've ever eaten, to be sure... but it filled us up), we attended the Alaska premier of Bostin Christopher's movie Otis. It's a hoot - intense, and graphic, but funny.

It's amazing up here... well worth the trip! Any theater person who can manage to get up to Valdez for the yearly conference would be wise to invest the time (and money) needed to get up here. Trish and I are surrounded by writers and actors from all over the country, there's the excitement of new work and a mass of artists in one place... all surrounded by mountains and the waters of the Valdez bay. The beauty of the place makes a perfect backdrop for dramatic exploration and innovation. Really, "amazing" doesn't begin to describe things up here.

I'm going to hit the sack (finally), but I wanted to let you know that I've posted some photos from Alaska on our Photobucket page. I'll try and post more as the week progresses.

Hope you're all doing well...

-Harold