Audition Workshops Start This Weekend

Do you dread public embarrassment as much as I do?

Do you fear rejection?

Has it been a couple years since you dusted off that old Neil Simon monologue you have in your back pocket for rainy days?

Have you signed up for League of Washington Theater Auditions in two short weeks and still have no idea what the hell you are going to do?

This is the weekend that Rorschach can help you help yourself.

Most of you probably have received at least 2 if not 3 emails regarding the incredible Audition Workshops being offered by Rorschach over the next two weekends. birds director and casting pro Wendy McClellan (sorry Wendy the only picture I have of you is your back) is offering 4 amazing workshops just in time to get all of us ready to face the mob at Leagues.

So if you have ever and I mean ever:

- Chosen a completely age inapproprite monologue .

- Gone up during a monologue.

- Begun to uncontrollably shake in front of a group of auditors.

- Ever taken your shoes off to audition.

- Made the mistake of doing Shakespeare, Mamet, or a poem you really really like.

- Worn what I can only think was a shirt 2 sizes too small for you when you bought it.

You need to come to at least one of these four fantastic workshops.

For more details visit our Work Shop Web Page.

All sessions 9am-11:30am

June 2: The Business of Auditions

June 3: Monologues

June 9: The “Cattle Call”

June 10: Cold Readings

$50 per session or $175 for all four classes

If you register for all four, receive a FREE BONUS Image Consultation Session with costume designer Debra Kim Sivigny.

For questions call 202-452-5538 or email info@rorschachtheatre.com

Speak the Speeches

There are always speeches before First Reads. Producers give you a packet of documents that you will probably never look at again and explain how the place runs. These speeches are standard operating procedure for nearly any professional theater company in the world.

You get a speech from the marketing director, who you probably won't see again until he comes with the photographer to take press pics. You hear from the designers and the director about their concepts of what this show is about and how they are going to be bringing it to 3 dimensional life. If the playwright has come you might get to hear what made her write the piece in the first place (Thanks for joining us last night Jennifer).

I will be honest, last night I slipped out the door before most of the speeches happened. Don't judge me! I don't like to ruin the surprise I get when I watch a designer run. I know there are many people who enjoy the discovery of a first read and Rorschach has had some doozies over the years. It is one of the few pleasures I get when I am not working as an actor on a show, the wonder of a designer run.

This is a great cast of people who are familiar to DC audiences even if they are not Rorschach regulars. Artitic Partner and Company Member Tim Getman joins us for his 4th Rorschach show (one more and you get the smoking jacket Tim). We are lucky to be joined by two great actors who I was very nearly in a show with a couple of months back, Brian Hemmingsen and Nanna Ingvarsson. Marissa Molnar and Jjana Valentiner round out the cast with all of their youth and energy, I envy them that.

Welcome to you all and I will give everyone a run down of the designers in the coming days.

birds starts previews on June 27th so start making your plans to see it today!

First Read Tonight

birds is having its first read tonight. I will be there at the beginning of the whole shooting match and will have a report as soon as I can.

Jenny and Randy Get Examined

Small theater gets a plug in today's edition of the Washington Examiner. Jenny and Randy get quoted in not one but two articles, which are written by the DCist's Theater Critic, Missy Frederick, who coincidentally writes for the Business Section of the Examiner. Both of articles are right next to one another so scanning and reading are made easy. Click to embiggen the above image or pick up an Examiner for free on the street somewhere to read the article and to see a fine looking MJ Casey in a photo from the current Catalyst production of The Flu Season which runs just two more weekends.

In addition to Rorschach Company Member Michael John The Flu Season also includes Rorschach Alums Ghillian Porter, Alexander Strain, Dan Via and Ellen Young. It is also directed by Jessi Burgess, director of Rorschach's The Beard of Avon.

Also running are In On It and Blue/Orange over at Theater Alliance. In On It features Rorschach Company Member Jason Stiles and Rorschach Alum Jason Lott. Blue/Orange is directed by Jeremy Skidmore who a couple years back directed After the Flood for Rorschach. In On It closes this weekend and Blue/Orange has been extended until June 10th, check the links for show schedules.

Have a great weekend everyone!

birds is Coming

birds
BY JENNIFER MAISEL
Directed by Wendy McClellan
June 30 – July 28
Previews begin June 27
(World Premiere)

A wealthy woman with a past falls into the city’s urban underbelly when she gives a homeless man her lover’s coat. Brothers Grimm meet modern-day New York in a dark circus of lost lives and magic charms where the lives of the homeless man, the prostitute and the stockbroker are inextricably intertwined.

BIRDS was developed by Rorschach Theatre’s MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES new-play program.

PRODUCED BY: Jenny McConnell Frederick and Randy Baker

FEATURING: Company Member Tim Getman. Also featuring Brian Hemmingson, Nanna Ingvarsson, Marissa Molnar, Jjana Valentiner

DESIGNED BY: Jacob Muehlhausen (Set), Deb Sullivan (Lights), Debra Kim Sivingy (Costumes), Matthew Nielson (Sound), Andrew F. Griffin (Asst. Lighting Design), Roni Lancaster(Asst. Set Design)

STAGE MANAGED BY: Viv Woodland

SHOW SCHEDULE: JUNE 30-JULY 29 Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm MORE

SHOWS TO BE ADDED SOON (including the matinees)

PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN PREVIEWS JUNE 27-29 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 8pm

A Message from Randy to the 365ers (Is that a word?)

Thanks everyone for one the more wonderfully weird evenings in Rorschach Theatre's History! :)

And this coming from the theatre that did UBO ROI.

But seriously, it was fantastic to work with such a universally strong cast and group of directors. And it was seriously fun. From what I've heard of other 365 events, I'm really glad we did it they way we did. It seems that many folks have sort of shuffled through the motions and produced these nights out of obligation rather than an attempt to have a good time and made something of these little gems.

Thank you everyone for your talent and your time. I hope you had as much fun performing them as I did watching them.

-Randy

Dispatch from Superman's Buddy Jimmy O.

This the dispatch that arrived in my mail box this morning from Co-Artistic Director Randy Baker. Scroll down to the previous entry to get the 411 on the what 365 is about, but here Randy has done a pretty impressive job of explaining the Rorschachian twist on the sha-bang. The event is tonight so get yourselves over to Casa for a good old fashioned throw-down. Here is the link if you want more details.

So I’m playing Scott’s Jimmy Olsen today, out in the field, being his intrepid reporter.

On Saturday I attended the remarkable rehearsal/creation process for our entry into the 365plays/365days festival. It was a blast watching everyone furiously create their interpretations of Suzan-Lori Parks’ weird little plays. The six casts were rehearsing at once in every corner of the building. It was a great way to spend a beautiful Saturday.

The festival is a pretty amazing event… Suzan-Lori parks committed to writing a play a day for an entire year… Now the world premiere of this play cycle is being performed as a yearlong national festival simultaneously in 14 major cities and communities around the country by over 600 theatres. It’s the largest theatre collaboration in U.S. History.

Six months ago I remember thinking, so that’s all fine and good but… one of our hang-ups was that we thought the event might become more of an obligation rather than an exciting event unto itself. We were about to pass on the idea when our good friend Becky Peters called us up and said. “No! Don’t do that! It can be cool! I can help you make it cool!” So we took her word for it. Teamed her up with another good friend of ours, director Jessie Gallogly, and said: “You two. Make it cool.”

The “concept” we came up with was one that we hoped would simultaneously speak to the whirlwind spirit in which Parks wrote her plays and one that used some of Rorschach’s signature elements: uncommon use of space, good ensemble work and maybe even adding a little bit of the epic into these little pieces.

So actors and directors met on Saturday at 11am and received their scripts. No one had seen their plays before then. The casts and their directors then had 5 hours to create a fully staged piece.

To make things interesting, we imposed a series of 10 “rules” to which every group had to adhere.

1. Time: Each group was told their plays had to be AT LEAST 8 minutes long and NO MORE than 15 minutes long. Keep in mind, that some of the plays that Parks wrote were less than a page long.
2. The Space/architecture: Each group was instructed to use the space and the architecture in some unique way.
3. The Props: Each group had to use a total of three props - no more, no less. One of those three props had to be the NOWHERE sign.
4. The Costumes: They had to use them. No limitations or instructions were given beyond that…
5. The Budget: They were not allowed to spend more than $10 on the show.
6. The Twist: ….they could not add any props, costumes or any theatrical elements to the play between Saturday and now. What they could find on Saturday is what they are using tonight.
7. The Scripts: Needed to be memorized.
8. The Juggler: aka Ken. Each group had to find a way to incorporate him into their play.
9. The Audience : Make them happy and each play had to incorporate at least one member of the audience in some way.
10. The Title / The Text: The name of the title had be worked into the play. This was the ONLY text that could be added to the play. Lines could be repeated or even moved around but nothing could be added or subtracted from the scripts.

The plays are amazing. The words on the page were really just a jumping off point. What these crazy young directors and actors created is nothing short of brilliant. So funny and at times maybe even a little moving.

Ya gotta come see this tonight. You won’t be disappointed.

MIRS: 365 Plays/365 Days

By Suzan-Lori Parks

Produced by Becky Peters and Jessie Gallogly

Monday, May 21 at 8pm

Free Admission

Seven plays.

Fourteen actors.

Six directors.

One juggler.

365 PLAYS/365 DAYS is a collection of short plays by the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of TOPDOG/UNDERDOG and THE AMERICA PLAY. On Monday, May 21 RORSCHACH THEATRE will join hundreds of other theatres around the country who have come together to present this incredible body of work.

Parks wrote one play each day for a year. Inspired by her example RORSCHACH THEATRE will present its seven plays in the same sort of whirlwind spirit. Actors and directors will meet on Saturday to receive scripts and a list of challenges to work into their productions. On Monday night the theatre doors open and RORSCHACH THEATRE will present seven fully staged productions to an audience hungry for spectacle and excitement!

PRODUCED BY Jessie Gollogly and Becky Peters

DIRECTED BY Cecilia Cackley, Sarah Dendhart, Jessie Gollogly, Ashley Hollingshead, Ryan Taylor and Andy Wassenitch

FEATURING JJ Area, Molly Cahill, Megan Dominy, Ken Elston, Valerie Fenton, Heather Elaine Gaither, Jason Linkins, Cedric Mays, Cassie Platt, Megan Reichelt, John Tweel and Simone Zvi

MORE ON THE 365 PHENOMENON: The world premiere of 365DAYS/365PLAYS is currently being performed as a yearlong national festival simultaneously in 14 major cities and communities around the country by over 600 theatres in the largest theatre collaboration in U.S. History. 365 Days/365 Plays will be presented in Washington DC, Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle, along with the Carolinas, Mississippi River towns, and university campuses.

For the national 365 site, CLICK HERE
For the DC 365 site, CLICK HERE

Word Search Again

Click to Embiggen and Print it Out for an Hour of Fun!

Jason's Odyssey

I would like to draw your attention to another Company Member's blog. Seems the incomparable Jason Linkins had a little adventure on his way home from the Referneces . . . cast party on Saturday Night. In a post Jason is calling Wherein the DCeiver Leads the Tired and the Deaf to Freedom from Fairfax County he recounts a harrowing journey in an attempt to get home. It is sort of a mix between The Incredible Journey, Boogey Nights and Children of a Lesser God.

This is Jason Linkins folks so parental discretion is advised. But you will laugh until I cry. Promise!

(By the way he hates it when I use this picture. But it is the closest thing I have to him falling asleep on the Metro.)

Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk

There is a FREE READING tonight at 8pm at Casa, of Rorschach Co-Artistic Director Randy Baker's new play in development, Gilgamesh. I have mentioned this before and will continue to drive the point home that Rorschach is committed to bringing new works to the stage.

Rather than give you a synopsis of the play, I am providing a video of Jean-Luc Picard explaining the story of Gilgamesh to a dying alien, played by the late Paul Winfield in the Epsiode Darmok. The first part of the video concerns Picard translating the language of the alien. If you want to hear Patrick Stewart tell the story in his deep rich voice jump ahead to about 4 minutes and 30 seconds into the video.



The reading features, many of your Rorschach favorite. No reservations necessary, just show up at 8pm and enjoy! There will also be a short discussion after the reading. Come help new work grow.

Goodbye References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot

Because a great cast and crew deserve a final bow!

References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot

by Jose Rivera

Directed by Shirley Serotsky

PRODUCED BY: Jenny McConnell Frederick and Randy Baker

FEATURING: Company Members Scott McCormick (Moon) Yasmin Tuazon (Cat). Also featuring Gabriela Fernandez-Coffey (Gabriela), Danny Gavigan (Coyote), Cesar A. Guadamuz (Martin), Andrew Price (Benito)

DESIGNED BY: Robbie Hayes (Set), Andrew F. Griffen (Lights), Pei Lee (Costumes), Matthew Nielson (Sound), Jean Ann Douglass (Props), Connor Dale (Asst. Lighting Design), Justin Titley (Asst. Set Design)

DRAMATURGY: Jacqueline E. Lawton

STAGE MANAGED BY: Cecilia Cackley and Ashley Hollingshead (Assistant SM)

Ticket UPDATE!

TONIGHT'S PERFORMANCE IS SOLD OUT!

Still tickets available for Saturday 3 and 8pm annd Sunday 3pm!

You have been warned.

Final Conversation with Jose Rivera

Performances remaining: 4.

Excuses for not seeing References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot if you are within a 25 square mile radius of Casa this weekend and are able to leave your house: 0.

We would love to see you Tonight or Tomorrow at 8pm. Or we could make some room for you tomorrow or Sunday at 3pm for the matinee. 2 for 1 Ticket Deal still in effect for Mother's Day Weekend, just use the ticket code "MOM" when ordering. I am done with prodding and guilting you people so I will let your mom's do it and say wouldn't it be nice to do something for your mom that didn't involve a Hallmark Card and brunch at TGI Fridays?

Been holding onto the following for about two months now. It is a transcript of a conversation that our dramaturg Jackie Lawton had with our playwright Jose Rivera. I can't tell you what a wonderful thing it was to have a living playwright working with us to answer our questions and supply so much background information regarding the genesis of the play and help discover the meaning of his work.

We had the same sort of help from Roberto with regards to Rough Magic earlier this season and we are looking forward to having some similar assistance from Jennifer Maisel with Birds. Birds by the way goes into rehearsals very soon, so get ready for another Rorschach World Premiere, this will be our 3rd for those of you keeping track.

Conversation with Jose Rivera

1. What has worked/not worked in previous production?
Playing the animals as animals, actors on all fours, or having them in costumes that resemble animals, etc, does not work.
The Coyote and the Cat are just a guy and girl. The Coyote is dangerous. The Cat is sexy. They are all in a heightened state of sexual desire.
It works best when actors aren’t afraid to go as far as the script is asking them to.
Allow the language to sound natural, flowing from you lips as though it’s the first time being spoken.
2. What is the Dream versus Reality Chronology?
Act 1 and 4 are reality. Gabby falls asleep at the end of Act 1 and dreams through Act 2 and 3. This is what Jose calls the joke of the play!!
Stylistically, Act 2 and 3 should not come off as A Midsummer Night’s Dream. None of it should be handled preciously. The language, their desires, their passions are real, gritty, psychologically disturbing, etc.
3. What or who inspired the script?
Benito is Jose’s brother Tony who was soldier in Gulf War 1. The machismo and the language are right from his brother’s mouth.
What Gabby does, in studying Islam, Muhammad, Karma, is what Jose did.
“If my brother’s going to be harmed, I wanted to understand what we were supposed to be afraid of/what we are fighting.”
He wanted to do some good.
He was also going through a divorce at the time he was writing this play. What it is when a marriage is in danger? What is it when two people can no longer communicate with one another?
He wanted to examine how two people who could have loved one another could suddenly, or over time, grow/develop into people who no longer love one another.

I Took Your Picture

And so tonight begins the end. References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot is in its final days. I know a lot of you love to wait to see a show at the last minute, well the last minute is fast approaching. Get your tickets now! Shows are Tonight, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Saturday and Sunday at 3pm. 2 for 1 Ticket Special is still in effect for both matinees, use the ticket code "MOM."

MIRS: Gilgamesh

Randy Baker is working on a new play. It is the story of Gilgamesh the ancient king of Uruk and his journey to storm the gates of heaven. Last night we had a rehearsal read for the upcoming Magic in Rough Spaces reading next Tuesday, May 15th at 8pm. Admission is FREE.

As with any work in progress the cast gave feedback and praise for what will be a very exciting and beautiful show. If you don't know the story of Gilgamesh follow the link to Wikipedia for more information.

I encourage anyone who has an interest in new works to come to the reading next Tuesday and help the artistic process along, either with your comments or simply with your presence. Believe it or not new plays don't just appear fully formed in script form, but events like this free reading serve an important role in shaping and re-shaping the words and actions that the playwright creates.

The reading will be directed by Co-Artistic Director, Jenny McConnell Frederick and features some Rorschach Theatre Regulars and some good friends of ours:

Gilgamesh Andrew Price
Naomi Becky Peters
Enkidu Scott McCormick
Aaron Jesse Terril
Ishtar Tiernan Monderno
Shiduri Maggie Glauber
Nadaba Yasmin Tuazon
Samyat Lindsay Haynes
Abraham Michael John Casey
Stage Directions Lee Lebeiskind

See you there!

Prod

This is the time on the blog where I get all misty eyed for the show that is about to go away. I have a few more things to post regarding References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, but most of the week will be a series of nags and prods to get those of you who haven't seen the show yet to come see the show.

Today I remind you how cool the set, costumes and lights are. It is quite beautiful isn't it. Remember just 5 shows left and then we are done. Thurday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm. And remember our 2 for 1 tickets to the Matinees on Saturday and Sunday 3pm. 1-800-494-TIXS or visit BoxOfficeTickets.com.

AppleSauce

Two curtain calls! While it is one of those things that all actors want, we hardly ever prepare for them. On both Friday and Saturday night there was such love from the audience that they sustained their applause and we returned to the stage for an extra bow. It felt kind of sweet.

The final weekend is looming and to have that kind of love flow your way from an audience. The funniest moment I think is because it is the actors who have to make the call on whether to go back out for the extra bow, you have sort of a conflicted feeling. Some of you stand there believing the clapping will die down and others are looking at one another wondering what the hell to do. And then it just keeps going and you make the run for the stage. And since you have never planned for a second curtain call no one is quite sure of where to stand or which way to bow.

It is kind of frickin' cool!

Just 5 shows left and References to Salvador Dali . . . is gone.

What a To Do!

Click Image to Enbiggen it! See References to Salavdor Dali Make Me Hot this weekend! I have made the time shouldn't you?

Express-ing Surrealism

Despite the misidentification of one of our actors in the photo, (that is Cesar not Andrew by the way) I think this is a fairly nice review of References to Salvador Dali . . . in the Express today. Get your free copy today. (Click on the picture if you want to make it bigger.)

The show continues to pick-up momentum as we head into our second to last weekend. We have a show tonight and the last time I checked we have seats available, so I know there is a two hour Grey's Anatomy on at 9pm, but I know most of you can either tape it or TIVO it, so why not get out and see some live lovin' instead.

Four show weekend, Tonight, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and our special Matinee at 3pm on Saturday. Call 1-800-494-TIXS or visit BoxOfficeTickets.com.

Get to Know Jean Ann Douglass

There is some tangoing going on somewhere besides Dancing with the Stars these days. I dance with Gabi and Danny dances with Yasmin. Who choreographed these little soul searing dances. Well in our case it was our props designer Jean Ann.

It turns out that Jean Ann's talents extend beyond the world of set dressing and distressing and into the world of dance. She was patient and kind and allowed us to find the movement with our lines. Here is one in a dwindeling number of Get to Know Me pieces. Unless Yasmin would like to write something soon. Enjoy!

1. What is your job in References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot?

I am the Props Designer/Movement Consultant. If you prefer alliteration, maybe: Cobbler/Choreographer?

2. Have you ever worked for Rorschach before and how?

Nope. I am new to the area, and new to Rorschach.

3. Do you have any recurring dreams and if so what are they about?

I used to have a recurring dream where I was inside an Alpha-Bits cereal commercial, except everything was black, green, and purple, like a film negative. I would wander around, lost, and ask large cereal letters for directions. My dreams of late still involve me being lost, but in a twenty-something, quarter-life crisis kind of way.

4. Other than Dali which painters turn you on?

Joseph Cornell. In all honesty, he's more of a collage/assemblage artist, not a painter. There is something heartbreaking about his efforts to capture his world and put it in a box. The child like innocence and cloistered life of this man, who lived in Queens with his disabled brother and his aging mother for his whole life, comes to life in soap bubbles, trinkets, and baubles trapped under glass. Beautiful.

5. Have you been doing any special research for the show?

I've been reading the Rorschach Blog...

6. Who is the biggest celebrity you have ever met and how?

I downed a few glasses of red wine (read: liquid courage) and told Chuck Mee that his plays (specifically, The Trojan Women: A Love Story) were what inspired me to become a theatre artist. He was very sweet, and told me a story about the premiere of The Trojan Women, which Tina Landau directed on a dock in Manhattan. There was a big thunder and lightening storm on opening night, and they performed anyway. Apparently, they wrapped all of the speakers and lights in plastic, but they all got soaked and shorted out. Mee said with a glint in his eye that all of the techies gave up, sat beside the stage and wept for most of the play. He's the coolest man alive.

I also met Willem Dafoe when I was interning at the Wooster Group. He was marching around the office singing a song at the top of his lungs about his wife that I am pretty sure he was making up as he went along. It was fairly early in the morning, I had not consumed any glasses of liquid courage, so I introduced myself and stammered something stupid, and he was back to singing and ignoring me before I finished a sentence.

7. In a steel-cage-no-holds-barred-death match which character in Dali would win?

I think everyone would be so busy fighting over Gabriela, that she could sit in the corner of the steel cage and file her nails, and breezily come out the victor.

8. What is the most impossible thing that happens in the play?

Impossible is in the eye of the beholder.

9. If you could live inside of any painting what would it be?

Georges Seurat "A Sunday Afternoon on the Ile de la Grande Jatte"

10. If you had a theme song what would it be?

"Hey Ya." Shake it like a polaroid picture.

References to Tennessee Williams . . .

I wake up and it is already dark. Oh the darkness and the cold. Dark. Oh so very dark! And cold, have I gotten around to mentioning the cold yet? The cold that surrounds me is eternal and vast. And the dark is pretty damn all inclusive as well. So there I am in the dark and cold. It is airless as well. Dark, cold and airless. Any warmth that I know is therefore exponential in its nature.

Oh the sweet warmth that comes from my Mother the Earth. My sweet nurturing, smothering, cloying "Big Momma" of an Earth. I circle her in some sort of endless dance. Since the dance is circular in nature I can only assume it is some sort of cake walk. I do like cake. Sweet, sweet cake iced like a woman's bossom that is frosted with a light layer of talcum powder and sweat on a hot Mississippi night. People love cake. The only appreciation I will ever know comes from the ants that scurry across Momma's rugged flesh as they marvel at my now scarred beauty. I was a beautiful boy once. Smooth skin. No signs of the impact that eons of neglect can leave on a lunar surface. So I take comfort from these ants.

I look down on a small fishing village in Mexico and see lovers. If love ever had anything to do with the acts in which they engage. Then again maybe it is love. Or maybe it isn't? Wait, I think it is.

Wait!

Sorry I have to sneeze. All this dust.

Where was I?

Love or maybe not, maybe it is, and then maybe it isn't again. I will stick with maybe it is, check back with me later, I may change my mind.

I turn my head to a southern platation and here I find a man and woman who will never touch. Not in a way that is real. Not the touch of lovers but the touch of liers and the self deluded. He drinks and she tries wearing different costumes to please him. She has put on a set of football shoulder pads, cleats and a helmet. He keeps drinking. And drinking. She asks him to call her "Skipper" and he just keeps drinking. I could use a drink about now as well. And where is that cake I ordered?

Suddenly my attention is drawn to a fellow yelling in an alley somewhere in New Orleans. My light shines down on him. "He loves the light ! See how the light shines through him ? ... I shouldn't be partial, but he is my favorite one." I just wish he would stop mumbling. How can you scream and mumble at the same time? Damn odd!

I'm sorry did you offer me a drink? No? I thought I heard someone offer me a drink. You sure you don't want a drink?

The night is moving on and I have places I need to be. By the way those two in Mexico, I am pretty sure they love one another.

One last stop to make. I must be a gentleman and pay a call on the Wingfields. I hate the mother.

My sister is about to rise now. We only see one another in passing these days. See I call her Rose because she rises. She is the one woman I love. I miss not being able to spend time with her, but I suppose that reflecting her light down on those ants is some comfort. All those kind strangers who look up at me and find beauty in a scarred, wandering soul.

To paraphrase myself, "Why did I shine? Because I found life unsatisfactory."