I'm in a play called "We're Gonna Die!" and it's awesome so you should come see it.

It's a new play by Young Jean Lee, and we're actually the first production besides the world premiere, which she starred in herself. I play bass in the show, which is cool because (a) it's not a stringed thing I usually play, and I've had fun diving into it more, and (b) the band is a pretty central part of the show in a way that most "pit bands" are not, even though we're not necessarily "acting" either.

I've been describing it to my friends as a "delightful funny rock n' roll cabaret about death and suffering," which is to say, it goes to some pretty dark places, but it's also fun and entertaining and insightful and moving and totally worth seeing (not just because I'm in it — although obviously, that helps).

WGBH's Arts Editor Jared Bowen agrees:

And, well, so does the audience:

The show runs at Oberon in Harvard Square through April 29, followed by some "tour dates" in May throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

You For Me For You Reviews

The reviews have started coming in for You For Me For You, directed by my girlfriend, M. Bevin O'Gara. EDGE Boston says:

"M. Bevin O’Gara’s sensitive and humanistic direction satisfyingly plumbs the depths beyond the novelty of the script to keep our hearts and minds firmly engaged in the sisters’s fate. O’Gara has the benefit of a wonderful cast of mostly Asian actors who have freed themselves from the muted performances too often imposed on them to this day in the popular American media. They give their emotions full throttle and so engage ours."

So, ya know. That's nice. Here's a little video I put together of audience testimonials, in case you're still not convinced!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsW5qxdLAOw]

Who For You For Me For Who?

My incredibly talented partner, Ms. M. Bevin O'Gara, is directing the Boston premiere of You For Me For You, a fantastical new play by Mia Chung that tells the story of two sisters trying to escape North Korea and flee to the United States. Bevin and I tend to stay out of each others' ways when it comes to our creative processes, so while I've read the script, I honestly don't know much about the production itself -- but I can tell you that I'm incredibly excited to see this highly imaginative story acted out on stage (and not just because my girlfriend is the director and I'm biased). Here's a little preview video I put together for the production, which starts performances tomorrow and runs through February 16:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qlpSZVLyuEA]

(side note, when I was approached to create a video for the show, it took so much of my will power to not just give them this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEaKX9YYHiQ]

but you knew that was coming, right? I'm a horrible person)

Welcome to the C-Wood

The Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts has a very special place in my heart. I was hired there to work as an usher in my first few weeks of college, and it ended up serving as my main place of employment throughout those 4 years. By my Junior year, I had moved up to Assistant House Manager, and started doing some administrative work as well -- which helped leverage me into my current position at the Huntington, as we manage that building as well. (plus my first apartment was right next to it, which was a convenient commute for work, but, well, the story of that apartment is a whole other thing) It's a beautiful modern theatre space with 4 performance spaces as well as rehearsal rooms and more, and it serves a lot of great smaller theatre companies, in addition to our own shows. Here's a video I put together as part of our fundraising campaign at the Huntington, showing the impact that the building has had the community.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k22X0VJMskI]

I'm Back Now, And I Brought T-Shirts For Everybody!

I have a confession to make. I didn't really bring t-shirts for everybody. Although I do have these sweet new business cards! So that's cool, right? I know I've been slacking (again) lately (again) with keeping this website updated with all of my various doin's. But it's not like I've not been not doing things (...or is it?)! Instead, I've just been too busy doing things to, ya know, write about doing things. It's kind of why I hate meetings in general, because I'd rather be doing things, than talking about doing things. So this website's kind of like a meeting then. Except I don't hate it; in fact, I quite love my little website here. So really, not like a meeting at all.

(shut up Thom) Okay so here's a brief rundown of where the hell I've been:

• My very short play, Stumped, was performed as part of a staged reading series to celebrate Company One's production of Hookman.
• My debut comic book story, Not Dead Yet, finally saw print in GrayHaven Comics' sci-fi anthology, The Fifth Dimension! Also the first printing already sold out, which means maybe someday you'll be able to sell that shit on eBay for like $20 (but probably not)
• I did a totally awesome article for Quirk Books comparing Samuel Beckett (the playwright) to Sam Beckett (the time traveling protagonist from Quantum Leap) and it was totally awesome. Don't believe me? Ask the former executive director of the American Theatre Wing!
• I also started doing some writing for Tor.com, with my first article being a roundup of great sci-fi/fantasy rock bands (so basically my two favorite things, combined. If only there was more beer!)
• We did another staged reading of my play True Believers as part of ImprovBoston's Geek Week celebration. It was really great to hear the play out loud in front of different kind of crowd, as it helps me figure out what kind of changes I need to make to the script before the world premiere this summer at the Factory Theatre (July 12 - 21! Get yer tickets while they're hot! Just kidding, they're not on sale yet). The lovely producing folks at Vagabond Theatre Group have a post up over at their website about the event so you can catch up on all the happening. There's also the first part of an instructional series about how to make your very own The Cyborg Head of Stan Lee, which actually comes a lot more in handy than you might think.
• Did I mention that I launched a new website for the Huntington, and that our world premiere production of The Luck of the Irish was extended, and sold out almost every night? For being, ya know, "just my day job" or whatever, sometimes it keeps me pretty busy as well.
• Plus Cupcake! So many things, so very busy with this wonderfully little world-premiere-musical-that-could. We raised $6,000 in our Kickstarter campaign (we were going for $3,750...whoops!), and we were the featured show this past Friday on Goldstar. You may have seen some of my sexy posters around town as well (just don't tell Grant that I photoshopped his arm a bit...) Previews start this Thursday, May 10!
• AND, to top it all off, I've only got like 50 pages left to read in Infinite Jest (finally! Jesus God this book is epic), so I'm gonna go finish that right now and hopefully conquer my crippling fear (no pun intended) of paraplegic Quebecers.