I've been on a crusade for some time now to convince music venues to start their music earlier.

What persuaded me to take a serious music plunge was the difference between being myself and pretending to be somebody else. As an actor, you're given the lines and given the direction. There are elements of yourself you bring to each character, but it still isn't something you can call your own.

As actors, directors, students, teachers, fans, and patrons of all forms and forums of theater, we must disagree with any suggestion that an exclusive relationship between student, studio, and stage is a good one.

Monday evening, I performed only my second staged reading, this one of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvey with Hickory Community Theatre.