After rehearsing PROTEST in both NYC and DC, in August, I came out to Portland, Or., to meet with my wonderful agents at Ryan Artists, walk a lot in Forest Park as I work to get off book, for PROTEST, on what is virtually a 25 page monologue, and to see many old friends. It’s been wonderful to walk and work under these old trees, out here.  I hope soon to do some bicycling and get to the beach. Oregon has so much natural beauty, as you know, and I never get enough of it. I’ve motorcycled across its deserts, skied and hiked its mountains, and bicycled its back roads. I love it. Portland, itself, is no longer quite the town I remember living in, before I left it for Houston, in 2007, but it’s still beautiful and interesting and, as a powerful exemplar of economic and social trends happening almost everywhere in the country today, a rich setting for story telling, which I think has only begun to be tapped, despite the wealth of fiction and nonfiction writing, independent filmmaking, and episodic tv, that for a long while now has been finding inspiration here. I have ideas about that.

Over the past weekend, I also submitted self tape for a national network tv show, back east, for a casting director who saw my work in a recent meeting. I’ve worked hard over the past year to get to know NYC casting. It feels good to be more part of a scene that’s increasingly familiar, and less scary, to me. I like living increasingly ‘bicoastal,’ too. I enjoy the different vibe of each coast: it’s refreshing to be reminded that we can still be shaped by region. We’re not yet one monolithic culture shaped solely by tv! Historical legacies still live through culture, which still differs, from place to place. I feel fortunate not only to have traveled much of the country during my life, but to have extensive friendships in cities as diverse as NYC, Philadelphia, Houston, and Portland.

Peace out!

David!