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The Finish Line

 The Milwaukee Film Festival is over, and the last performance of the theatre season is on the horizon. You can always tell because the marketing people are already selling next year's season.

My friend Jeanne and I have already committed to The Rep and Next Act. My friend Pam and I will reserve for Gigante and Constructivists. Only money stands between me and more season ticket subscriptions, but surely I will see more theater next season.

May 8

God's Spies

Yesterday we saw Next Acts performance of Bill Cains, God's Spies. A Scottish lawyer and a now-famous playwright are trapped in a bawdy house with the resident prostitute. They are trapped because everyone in London is restricted to their quarters as the city is besieged by 'the plague.'

The ultra-religious lawyer is torn between his beliefs and the tempting presence of the tart. 

The playwright is agonizing over his latest script, King Lear.

As the play unfolds, the young lady becomes a theater fan and a helpful critic. While she insists on getting paid for sexual favors, her contributions to the play are free.

They all help each other see the play develop from different viewpoints and contribute what Shakespearian fans will recognize as lines from the play as it's performed today.

The performance was fast-paced, humorous, and filled with lines that none of us might have recognized had we not all suffered the grips of COVID. 

I can't fairly rank the plays I saw this season. I have seen too many good ones. God's Spies was one of the best.

May11

God of Carnage

Two Couples sit down to discuss an incident. One of the couple's son had struck the other couple's son with a stick and caused severe damage.

The issuing conversation dissolves into revealing the characters not as they wish to be thought of but as they are. Through


On The Easel

My version of 
The Dancing Girl
Pastel 12x 16

Health Report

When I publish this, I will be in recovery from a procedure that will remove a tumor from my bladder.

The procedure took up a day, but most of that was me prepped and ready to go waiting for the operating room to be sanitized and then recovering after.

They took a large amount of the tumor off the bladder. It will be analyzed by a pathologist to determine the next steps. The next steps might be surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or combining any of the three. I'm confident this will have a happy ending.

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