Ballads and Bonding

Nik Walker, coming at you with round two. Thanks to Alex and eclectic_liz for commenting on my last entry. Y'all make me feel special.

Question: Why is it as hot as you know what here in jolly old Boston? What was it today, 100 degrees? God, why are you so mad at us? Not cool, man. Not cool.

Sunday, after rehearsal, some fellow ASSASSINS kiddies and I beat the heat by going to the cafe next door for some ice cream. It was mad chill bonding with them - we gotta to do it more in the future. Blake Pfeil and Danny O'Connor, our Guiseppe Zangara and David Herold (respectively), are ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. If you see them on the street, please go up to them and ask to hang with them; they will definitely show you a rollicking good time. Also with us that day were Penny Hansen of the ensemble and Meredith Stypinski, who is playing Emma Goldman. Actually, as we speak, Meredith is right now at a callback in NYC for a touring production of Oliver! Break a leg, Stypinski.

This past week, we blocked two of my three Ballad scenes - "The Ballad of Booth" and "The Ballad of Guiteau". David and I are having a ton of fun playing around with the racially charged tensions in "Booth", especially because I happen to be a black man, and Booth is, as demonstrated in the scene, a blatant racist. I'm excited about Company One's casting decision in this instance...putting a black man forth as the representation of America in this particular show is an incredibly bold, fertile and provocative move, especially now in the midst of the Obama Mania that has swept the nation. It could potentially put a new spin on the show that's never been explored before. I've done some research, and I really can't find any other place where The Balladeer has been cast with a person of color. Anybody have any thoughts on this? I'm definitely interested to see how this pans out by opening
night.

Well, I gotta bounce. Liz Fenstermaker, the show's dramaturg, is coming to rehearsal tonight to give us historical contexts for our characters and help us out with any queries. I always love that stuff. That's right. I am pumped to get edu-ma-cated.

Talk to you soon.
-Nik