Update #1 --- Project 10

I've been meaning to write for ages. AGES. At least it feels as though an epoch or two has crept by unnoticed as Thwarting Complacency sat unattended. Unloved. Unwritten. But no more! No, no, no... it's time to get back to updating in some aspect before I look around and see the wrinkled hand of 2008 pass the mantle to the screaming babe that is 2009.

My trouble is, and I'm sure you can all attest to this, is that there's almost TOO MUCH going on to pick any one thing to write about. It's actually tough to decipher what is and isn't appropriate to say and what is and isn't worth mentioning.

So I picked one that is a large plate topper for me. Project 10.

Created in collaboration with two of my dearest friends who just happen to be talented writers in their own right, Project 10 is a night of ten-minute plays written by the three of us.

The concept is simple: each playwright writes one 10-minute play a week for ten weeks. In early July, we will assemble and choose the top ten plays from the stack of thirty completed works and will hand them over to a troupe of actors and directors to bring them to life.

The shows will be performed in rep, back-to-back, over the course of one evening. Minimal setting, props, and costumes — the chosen actors will stay on-book, using the words, their bodies, and the limited materials around them to bring more than forty characters to life in 100 minutes.

Are you excited yet? I am.

Now this posting gave me a reason to pause—you see, marketing Project 10 as it needs to be marketed would then require for me to start using actual names and putting real identities to the aliases I've plastered about the blog in some vain attempt to protect the anonymity of my loved ones.

And then I realized that I'm not, in fact, a super hero. The need to protect my identity and the identity of those around me isn't nearly so crucial as it is for those comic book heroes we so admire. And as Keaton once said, anyone in central Ohio already knows who I really am if they have any connection to local theatre. They know my full name, and that Jamie Rotham is about as real as a smurf. And really, most people who read my blog... you know me too. Or at least you know me enough.

For the purposes of the blog, I'm not going to shift everything again (my name for example). Burton works just fine. And Burton isn't fake. It's my name, just not the one most people use. But it's there, quietly playing second fiddle to its older brother. So yeah, Burton deserves a little time to shine and thus has become my call-sign, if you will, online.

It's funny — I'm so particular about what people know and what they don't. When I began this blog, I wasn't at all concerned with anonymity. I used everyone's name, including mine, and tossed them about with abandon. And then I thought about it and decided that I shouldn't talk about people without asking. And so they all got nicknames to protect the innocent. And eventually, I slid into that trap as well.

I'll have to tell you the story of where Jamie Rotham came from one day. It's really a treat. And one of my stage names (the other being my actual name). I'll tell you this: I owe the name to Keaton. I created that stage name to be in one of his plays in one of my most favorite roles. One day, I hope to see that play professionally produced and a professional actor will "originate" the role in the memory of Broadway. But I will forever call it mine and hold that character close to my heart. It's always an honor to be the first actor to breathe life into a character—to give that to a playwright.

Amazing how much one can digress on a beautiful July morning (HAPPY CANADA DAY by the by). Long story short (too late), if you put two and two together, I'm not going to lose much sleep. The point of today's post was to talk about Project 10. And to do that, I'm going to link you to a new site because I'm just so proud of this whole thing and the work that has gone into it and continues to go into it. I'm very much looking forward to see the troupe of actors, that we're getting set to cast, take on these newest characters and to see them take form and walk from the page into the spotlight. I get chills just thinking about it.

If you happen to be near central Ohio and you happen to like theatre, or maybe you know me offline, or perhaps you've been meaning to expand your cultural horizons and see some live acting in your own hometown—then I invite you to come see Project 10 on July 26. You can get all the details by visiting www.theatredaedalus.com and following the links to the Project 10 page. (Theatre Daedalus itself will be another post.)

So that's one of the myriad of things I've been up to in June. Coming up next: my sister's wedding; or perhaps we should talk about my ordination. Yeah... that's probably a good solid post or three.