It is with mixed feelings that I end my part in the production of “Romeo & Juliet” at Missouri Western State University.  It has been a great delight.  I’m humbled and grateful to everyone who took part.  I will take home some fine memories of each member of the cast, crew and front-of-house staff.  My hat goes off to director Tee Quillin for his tireless efforts on this marvelous production.

It is with sadness that I depart the production.  I am not taking part in the school performances Monday and Tuesday.

The adjudicators’ comments about my performance  (click here) were positive and encouraging.

Acting the part of Friar Laurence has proven a great challenge.  He is said to represent politics and wisdom within the story, and yet his politics and wisdom lead directly to the deaths of the title characters.  He secretly marries a 13-year-old girl to a man who would later commit cold-blooded murder.  He gives that girl a powerful narcotic, urges her to feign death, lies outrageously to her parents, then plots to spirit her away.

He hopes to mend a long-running family feud, and in that one regard he is successful, even as he fails miserably in all the particulars.

I didn’t do a lot to change my general appearance for my performance.  My costume was simple and generic: black suit with a long jacket, standard-issue puffy shirt, period tie, character shoes.

Makeup consisted of pancake foundation, eyebrow pencil and liner, chestnut brown shadows and “clown white” highlights, with finishing powder.