Behind the scenes
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There are a few things that I do when rehearsing. I never share my material with anyone. I don’t run it by others to see what they think. I also only rehearse in my head. I don’t say the words aloud until the night of the show. I also try to focus on pacing quite a bit. Some pieces need to have an upbeat delivery- Cigarettes for example- while some need a slower, more drawn out delivery- Drinkin’ with Jesus for example. The pace of each piece helps the mood and overall effect of each monologue. Above all the play is driven by the words. The words are the key. These are stories and the telling of a good story is an art. Irish people are natural story tellers. We are raconteurs. There is a great oral tradition in Ireland. We know how to tell a tale. We know how to set a mood, create the right atmosphere, and we know how to laugh at ourselves. We understand the marvellous absurdities that occur in everyday life and we celebrate and embrace them. And why not? After all, you only get one go at this life thing…you might as well make the best of it.
Raised in Castlepollard, a small town in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Ireland, I came to the U.S. in 1990 and after a seven year employment odyssey finally found my way to Landrum Middle School in Ponte Vedra where I teach Language Arts. I was a founding member of the Atlantic Shakespeare Company and while with the company I played the title role in Richard II, Cassius in Julius Caesar, Antony in Antony and Cleopatra and Feste in Twelfth Night. I also played the title role in the Playboy of the Western World at Atlantic Beach Experimental Theater, as well as Amundsen in Terra Nova and Dr Watson in Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of the Sign of Four at the Limelight Theater in St. Augustine.