JACK GARRITY“COMMANDER” – HRC SHOWCASE THEATER
HRC Showcase Theater has been doing staged reading of new plays for the past 25 years and I have been lucky to be a part of their season for close to 15 of those 25 years! Their season consists of 5 new plays ending with the play that is awarded the W. Keith Hedrick award. Check out their season and past seasons on their website: HRC Season
Under the direction of Artistic Director Barbara Waldinger, they assemble a group of first rate actors for each reading. And what is unique about their process is that most, if not all, of these actors have never worked together before. We all head up to Hudson for the weekend and spend all day Saturday reading, blocking, stumbling and discussing our way through the play and then we’re up on our feet for the evening’s performance. Every reading I’ve done with HRC has been extremely well attended, a bit of a pleasant surprise my first go round. But what is even more astounding is that after the reading there is a lovely reception with the author, actors and director and then a talk back with the audience. And these HRC audiences LISTEN!!! They ask extremely well thought out questions and share how the play made them feel.
“Commander” by Mario Correa explores the idea “Is America ready for its first gay president” NOT a very unlikely question in this political season where we have candidates ranging from the extremely qualified, Hillary, to a billionaire buffoon, Trump! I was cast as the homophobic, foul mouthed campaign manger, Frank Desantis, pulling out all the stops to get his candidate on the ticket. I didn’t count them but I must have had hundreds of F-Bombs and enjoyed every one of them!
What is really at the heart of HRC Showcase Theater is that they are bringing these new works to a willing and wanting audience, in addition to serving the playwright allowing him (her) to hear their play and discover additional nuances in the process. As an actor it gives me the opportunity to stretch my wings, play and work all at the same time.
BRAVO! HRC Showcase Theater, here’s to another 25 years!!
BAKING W/ JACK!!
Not too sure If I am sharing something new, but I LOVE to bake! And I’ve been told I am pretty good at it.
The holidays are usually the high season for baking, leading with my annual box of assorted Christmas Cookies and ending with my crowning touch my Bouche de Noel. 
Well, it was this year’s Christmas cookies that were the inspiration for the above cupcake pic. Our neighbors Upstate recently adopted 2 amazing children, a brother and sister, and when I delivered my Christmas cookies this year one of the Mom’s commented that the kids would love it if I would come over someday and bake with them. Well I was extremely flattered and wanted to do one better. So, I invited the kids over our house for a Bake Date. It was part date, part learning experience and all fun! The cupcakes pictured at the top of this post were the creations from that Bake Date.
I got each of the kids their own set of piping tips and bags and may have gone a bit overboard with the toppings. Peeps, Cadbury Malted Eggs, Jelly Beans, Peanut M&Ms, Easter Candy Corn, and 5 different colors of frosting. They had a blast, got quite a sugar high and hopefully learned something too.
Then that got me to thinking…….why wouldn’t any parent want a Bake Date with Jack? Your kids will be occupied for approximately 4 hours, learn some of the fundamentals about baking, have a blast and you as parents get 4 hours to do whatever you want. A win win!
So I am officially making myself available to the parents of Manhattan as a baker to their kids for a Bake Date w/ Jack!
BADGES OF HONOR IN AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND
Tom and I arrived in 2016 before most of you! We spent three weeks over the New Year in Sydney and New Zealand. How un-American of us to take such a leisurely vacation, but when you go that far it makes sense to stay as long as you can and to see and do as much as you can.
Our first week was spent exploring Sydney. I faced my fear of heights and white-knuckled the Sydney Harbor Bridge climb. Don’t let the pic on this post fool you — I am shaking in my boots! But, I put on a good face, tried NOT to look down and enjoyed the climb down the most. Actually, it was more terrifying watching other people do the climb while on the ground. But when in Rome…. I am glad I did it and have the pics for proof.
The rest of our time in Sydney was occupied by La Boheme at the Sydney Opera House, seeing Geoffrey Rush as King Lear in the Sydney Theatre Co.’s production, touring the Blue Mountains and enjoying the summer weather in the Southern Hemisphere.
After a week in Sydney we were off for two weeks of driving on both the north and south islands of New Zealand. The second badge of honor was earned driving on the LEFT!!! Mind you, it took me a good two days before I got behind the wheel. It took a lot of concentration and Tom’s shrieks of horror and pleads of “keep left, KEEP LEFT!!!!” were most helpful.
We drove the entire north island, crossing mountain ranges, visiting some of the most stunning seaside resorts and marveling at the acres and acres of timber plantations. 
Crossing from the north island to the south island was a ferry crossing.
And to cross the width of the south island we boarded the Tranz Alpine Railway from Greymouth in the west to Christchurch in the east making it a perfect trifecta! Planes, Trains and Automobiles!!
