I have always wanted to be a writer, never an actor. But I believe I can’t be a good playwright without considering what actors do. So I spend a lot of time listening to actors as they rehearse my work, and sometimes pretending to be one on stage. This time through the fun-house I’m a bit player in M&M Stage Productions’s presentation of Guys & Dolls. Still running at Kelsey Theater, July 17-19, directed by Mike DiIorio.

This is my favorite show, and I’m lucky to be included in an incredibly talented cast.  I’ve learned so much (but not how to suck in my gut, I’m afraid). Mike DiIorio is an incredibly generous director, and Pamela Sharples has made the music come to life. Such a lot of work to put words on a stage!

I am playing that lousy copper, Lt. Brannigan. What does this character want? What is he hiding? What is he afraid of? (Thanks, Ian August, for that checklist.) Well, he’s a vice cop in a City of Sin, and he wants respect! He’s hiding the fact that he knows vice is a fact of life, never to be eradicated. And he’s afraid that the animals in his zoo will learn not to be afraid of him! So he goes through the motions as though he’s winning the War on Sin.

He and Sarah Brown would make a good pair, but she has other urges!