Cast of Characters

Here are the people in my neighborhood:

The Batzman: A wonderful actor, hysterical, talented--and unafraid to say the most inappropriate thing imaginable. Played the Scarecrow in the Mountain Play's 2008 production of "The Wizard of Oz".

Blender: My best friend from high school. That quite likely makes him, like me, older than you. In fact, we have probably known each other longer than you have been alive. Ouch.

Dangle: An actor I worked with on "SantaLand Diaries". He has done some amazing work around here, and although he was tough to read at first, I have finally started to get a grasp on how wonderful he is.

De: Incredibly talented stage manager in Sonoma County. Last name is "Lisious", so she got stuck with this nick (please forgive).

Dotentot: We had a running joke backstage at "The Wizard of Oz"--the Cowardly Lion has the line 'What makes the Hottentot so hot?' The Batzman was Hottentot, for a number of reasons, so she quickly became "Dotentot". She played Dorothy when I was on the Mountain.

Ex, the: Married for fifteen years before I moved out so we could attempt to work it all out. It didn't. Still friends, though, and share parenting of our two kids (Thing 1 and Thing 2, see below).

Helene: A versatile, soulful actor/singer/dancer and a dear friend. Met during Sweet Charity in the latter part of 2005. You can view the professional side of her life here.

K2: Matching first and last initials. Actress in Sonoma County who I have worked with numerous times. Young, full of life, talented, and currently head over heels with Mr. Ray (see below).

Manhunter from Mars, the (or Manhunter for short): A dear friend and former colleague. First met whilst working on video games for the now-extinct SSI/Mindscape/Broderbund/The Learning Company/Mattel Interactive series of companies. A former armor officer, and all around great guy--if not for the fact that he's a redneck from Missouri. (Just kidding.) His real name sounds remarkably like that of an old DC comic book character.

Menace, the: An actor I haven't worked with. Amazing. ;o) He is, by all accounts, very good--I know him only as a very sweet, funny, and genuinely warm man.

Panda: Met doing the Mountain Play (she was our Marketing Gurette). She writes a blog here that I try to keep up with.

Mr. Ray: A wonderful guy, very funny, warm, and sometimes surprisingly deep. Another local actor, I have worked with him up here in Sonoma County on Sweet Charity and seen him in many other shows.

Skate: Met during a production of "A Long Day's Journey Into Night." Became fast friends when we realized we were going through the exact same life struggles at nearly the exact same time: divorce, work, personal crisis, etc. She is now my partner in crime in a small theater company in the North Bay, and writes a blog here.

Thing 1: My eldest son. Loves ice hockey and extreme sports. Brilliant, competitive, self-critical and sometimes doesn't want to do the work because he finds it boring (he would rather be an expert at something right away). Can't imagine who he got that from....

Thing 2: My second born son. Loves karate, LEGO and small animals. Simple and brilliant, but in that scary savant way: says the most obtuse things sometimes, and walks on a different, sometimes parallel plane of existence to our own.

Wiz, the: A brilliant behind-the-scenes tech genius. Has worked in set design, sound and lighting design, and runs the sound/music for The Music Man (my current production). He is the magical man behind the curtain who makes it all work.

Zeke: The artist-formerly-known-as-the-King-of-the-Forest (currently played The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz with me). Funny, funny man, and great to work with on stage as well.