Toilet Paper Temple

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In Lopburi, Thailand hundreds of monkeys who are usually fed by tourists swarmed the streets fighting for scraps of food following the Covid-19 Pandemic, which kept tourists away. On a normal day in the city, hundreds of tourists would feed the monkeys but after the outbreak of the virus, tourists have stayed away leaving the monkeys to fend for themselves. The virus outbreak had sparked a 44% decrease in tourism in the country.

In America, people have been swarming the supermarkets to hoard toilet paper and also getting in fights. In Central Florida, we are familiar with the human desire to hoard supplies before a natural disaster like a hurricane. There seems to be a special angst among humans about not having enough toilet paper. Toilet paper has a primal and infantile association for people. Some research has shown that the virus has been present in stool samples. It is therefore prudent to always wash your hands when leaving the bathroom.

For the first few months of the outbreak, President Donald Trump assured people that Covid-19 would pass by like a miracle with very few cases. Many were reassured by this gas lighting, while ignoring the scientific community who had a very different outlook. Suddenly the news changed and people were told to stock up in supplies for an unknown period of time. Just like mixed messages resulted in a rush at the airports, the mixed messages resulted in a rush on supermarkets. Because the administration dragged its feet on a response to the pandemic, people have no faith that supplies will be restocked. With no leadership, people are left to fend for themselves, and fear the worst because they hear only lies from the president.

As anxiety rises, gun sales are also skyrocketing. In the past few days, the number of background checks in Florida has
gone through the roof. The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a run on gun
shops. Saturday’s (March 14, 2020) total of more than 6,200 checks was 74 percent higher than
the average Saturday, and the single busiest March day since 2012,
according to the data provided. Ammunition is also becoming harder to find. When people get scared, they just want to feel the warm comfort of a gun in their hands.

Business as Usual: NO Weekend Top 6 Picks

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There are NO Weekend Top 6 Picks for March 21 and 22, 2020 due to Covid-19 Virus Pandemic. Stay home. Stay Safe.

The president recommended that gatherings of 10 people or more in the US be canceled or postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The nation’s top infectious disease official said he would like to see a 14-day national shutdown imposed, but it does not seem that President Donald Trump will order that. We need to change our routines for a threat we can not see. If we wait, many will die needlessly. The United States has some 45,000 Intensive Care Unit beds, and even in a moderate outbreak scenario, some 200,000 Americans will need intensive care.

Here are some of the the Florida attractions that remained open after the pandemic announcement, despite the CDC recommendation to close. All the large Orlando theme parks closed (Disney Theme Parks, Universal, Sea World, Lego Land) but some smaller venues ignored public safety concerns and remained open.  

Fun Spot Orlando was business as usual. They added some hand sanitizing stations and did some housekeeping measures. Riding a roller coaster might be as fun as riding a subway car in NYC next to a coughing passenger by your side.

The Pirates Dinner Adventure remained open during regular hours. Attendance is lower because of virus concerns. They hope to maintain six to eight foot distances between guests in the dining area. Other changes include that the servers will be wearing gloves, food will arrive covered, and hand
sanitizers are available. The trouble with this venue is that guests have to wait like cattle in a crowded common room before being allowed into the main staging area. The second show (8 p.m.) for Friday, March 20, has been cancelled.

Icon Park on International Drive, with the Wheel, the Starflyer (the world’s tallest swing ride) and the
restaurants remained open. The seats, the handles, anything that people
can come into contact with were constantly being wiped down. A networking event is scheduled to happen on March 24, 2020, at Icon Park. I will not be going to sketch and rub shoulders.

These venues are insane to remain open, they are ignoring the numbers and science, not caring that they are risking guests’ health by remaining open for business. Two Florida mobile hospitals are ready to deploy when needed. Public beaches in Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale are closed.

A 34 year old man flew to Orlando on March 2, 2020 for a conference and decided to stay several more days to visit Walt Disney World and Universal. Before flying home, he developed a cough and started coughing up blood. Back in Pasadena California, he was diagnosed with symptoms of  pneumonia. He tested positive for Covid-19 on March 13, 2020 and died on March 19, 2020 . It is not yet known if the man caught the virus in Orlando, but he was certainly contagious while he visited here and was in the theme parks. The virus survives on cardboard and copper surfaces for 24 hours, and for 72 hours on stainless steel and plastics. Now think of all the surfaces that were touched while waiting in a long line. It becomes clear that many others were likely infected in the parks and on the airplane.

Disney’s college internship program has shut down and students are being told they must leave by 11 am Wednesday March 18, 2020. Disney World has donated its excess food to Central Florida food banks like Second Harvest Food Bank. Volunteers are needed at Second Harvest since there has been a surge in need since the public school closures mean that many students will go hungry. Summer BreakSpot locations are being set up where children can find healthy nutritious meals.

The National Guard Medical Technicians are being deployed in Broward County, which is now the hot spot of outbreak of the virus in Florida. They will be setting up drive-through test sites. Miami Mayor Francis X Suerez has tested positive for the virus. Stay home. Stay safe.

Post Script:

Fun Spot America will close all locations until further notice beginning Monday 3/23/2020, the company announced Sunday evening.

onePULSE Design Presentation

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onePULSE Foundation held three public presentations to give a detailed look at and solicit feedback on preliminary designs for the National Pulse Memorial, the Museum and Education Center, and the Orlando Health Survivors Walk. The first of the meetings was held at the Orlando Repertory Theatre (1001 East Princeton Street Orlando FL).

Following the presentation, representatives from the design team and onePULSE Foundation will answer questions from the audience. Attendees were also invited to submit written feedback on comment cards available at the meeting.

In October 2019, onePULSE Foundation selected Coldefy and Associés with RDAI, Orlando-based HHCP Architects, Xavier Veilhan, dUCKS scéno, Agence TER, and Prof. Laila Farah to design the National Pulse Memorial and Museum. Since October, the design team has been working closely with the onePULSE Foundation to develop a project timeline and master plan that will ensure design and construction is coordinated with other public improvements already planned by the city.

The concept design from Coldefy with RDAI | HHCP features water, greenery, and a reflecting
pool encircling the Pulse building. In memory of the 49 victims, a palette of 49 colors
lines the basin and radiates towards a peaceful garden planted with 49
trees. The design also envisions a spiraling, open-air museum and
educational center with vertical gardens, public plazas, and a rooftop
promenade. The museum was designed with a flower like an Easter Lilly in mind but it tends to look like a nuclear power plant cooling tower with an undulating upper rim.

Thomas Coldefy stood at the podium as I sketched. He traded off with associates Julia Capp, Zoltan Neville, and Michael Chatham, as they each outlined various phases of the design,  The club itself will be transected by a walkway with granite walls allowing people who want to walk through the space, the option to do that. The removed section will become a part of the Pulse Museum and the club itself will remain empty for no but renovated and air conditioned with no views inside. Musical vibrations are to be present in the walk through when you tough the granite walls. The project is slated to cost almost $49 million dollars and construction could begin within a year.

Flooding into the Country

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When President Donald Trump announced a travel ban on flights from international countries into the United States, Americans abroad panicked and rushed to get back into America before the deadline. More than 40,000 people flooded into US airports. These Americans were forced to wait in long lines in the airport, crowded together, which of course was an ideal place for the Covid-19 virus to spread. Some people had to wait 7 hours to get through customs and health screenings. People with symptoms were not separated from the crowd. Workers did not have protective gear. It is hard to imagine a better scenario for spreading the deadly virus all across America.



Walt Disney World made the right decision to close all its theme parks, but on Sunday, (3-15-2020) the final day Walt Disney World was open, they decided to go out with a bang by having the huge crowd press together for a fireworks show. Abigail Disney, the niece of Walt’s brother Roy Disney, saw a photo of the huge crowds and commented on twitter “Are you fucking kidding me?” Since that comment, Disney has taken down the photos from Twitter.

As I write this, there are 203,521 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the world. At 9 am today there are already 6,417 new cases of people infected with the virus. 8,205 people have died. President Trump announced that there are to be no gatherings of 10 people or more. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer suspended the sales of all alcohol at any bars, clubs, restaurants, and hotels, or other venues where alcohol is typically consumed.

The Democratic Primary voting went on as planned in Orlando. Five other states postponed voting, but Florida decided to proceed despite the pandemic. My polling place was in a Methodist Church. I parked near some headstones, but was afraid I might be in the wrong place, since there wasn’t a soul in sight. I noticed a woman walking past the cemetery to a building next door and decided to follow her. Sure enough this was the polling place. I approached the community room entrance with two very old gentlemen. One man looked like he might have crawled out of his death bed to get to the polling place, his eyes were so bloodshot. On a bench at the entrance someone joked that we looked criminal as we walked in. The one elderly man said he had done this many times in his life. He stressed that point several times as we walked down the hall. Yet, it was rather criminal to have the elderly going out to vote when the rest of the country was on lock down.

A line of chairs separated the community room in half with police tape tied along the line they created. Anyone on the West side of the main street the church was on, had to go to the reception tables to the left and anyone on the east side of that street were supposed to go to the other reception table to the right of the dividing line. As I stood in line I realized I was not giving myself a cushion of 6 feet behind the men I had entered with. To pick up my ballot I had to hand over my drivers license. There was some hand sanitizer on the table but the poll worker handled my card and handed it back without using it for herself. I squirted some sanitizer on my hands and rubbed it in, then put the license back in my wallet. Voting only took a second since there were really only 2 candidates. I didn’t stay to sketch, deciding to instead get back to the studio to self isolate, and finish the sketch above.

Governor DeSantis announced that the State Florida ordered an additional 2,500
test kits to supplement the resources already available to test
for COVID-19. These additional test kits will enable the Department of
Health, working with Florida health care providers, to test up to an
additional 625,000 individuals. Florida recently partnered with private laboratories around the state to expand COVID-19 laboratory testing capacity. To date there are 160 Covid-19 cases in Florida and 5 people have died. Those numbers will rise as testing begins. The Florida Department of Health reported 1,483 people have been tested for Covid-19 as of Monday (3-16-2020). To contrast that news, South Korea has been doing over 10,000 tests a day. The World Health Organization’s top official, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, criticized some nations for
not doing enough to detect and contain the deadly Covid-19. “We have a simple message for all countries: Test, test, test. Test
every suspected case. If they test positive, isolate them and find out
who they have been in contact with two days before they developed
symptoms and test those people, too,” Tedros said.

With little leadership coming from the President, I turn to Governors who are responsibly gearing up to the unimaginably large number of cases that are to come. New York Governor Cuomo pointed out that, “This in an extraordinary time in this nation’s history. It will go down in the history books as a moment of true crisis, confusion, and chaos. In a single moment your whole concept of life and society can be shaken. This is a character test for all of us. Life has been turned upside down. This is a hard time on every level.”

A CDC projection estimated that the U.S. Covid-19 pandemic could infect
between 160 million and 214 million Americans over a period of more than a
year, and kill anywhere from 200,000 to 1.7 million people in the United States. This is a worst case scenario if nothing is done to slow the curve of infections through social isolation and adequate testing and treatment. That higher CDC estimate is more dead than in WWI, WWII, and Vietnam combined. We are fighting a war for survival against an unseen enemy. Stay home. Stay safe. Be calm and caring.

“What did you do when all around you lost their head? – Rudyard Kipling

Love and Kindness on the Lawn

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People gathered in Seneff Plaza (445 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, Florida 32801) across from City Hall for Love and Kindness on the Lawn hosted by The One Orlando Alliance. The goal was together in gratitude to celebrate community and the spirit of #OrlandoUnited. It was a free event offering time to enjoy local music, food trucks, share some hugs
and create happy memories while remembering those who continue to need
our love and support. At 1:30pm there was a special
giant “human heart” photo opportunity.

People in the crowd were each given red poster boards and they were instructed to stand inside a giant heart that had been outlined on the lawn.  At the assigned time everyone was instructed to hold up their cards, much as you might see in a football stadium so that from above they created a giant red heart. A drone with a camera was sent up to shoot the photo. I never noticed the drone while I sketched.


The big announcement from the main stage was that Barnie’s Coffee was releasing a 49 Special Blend which would benefit those impacted by the Pulse tragedy. Proceeds from the sale of each bag of coffee will go directly to One Orlando Alliance to benefit those impacted by the Pulse tragedy. The 49 Special Blend was priced at $12.49, and was available beginning June 12th at BarniesCoffee.com and can be shipped worldwide. It was also be sold at Barnie’s Café in Winter Park, Florida and various retailers around Orlando.

12th Annual John R. Hamilton Mock Trial: The Crown v. Falstaff

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Falstaff was put on trial at the Orlando Shakes, (812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL 32803).  He is a disreputable an rather rotund character in Shakespeare‘s Henry IV. The judges in this trial were to be Alisa Smith, Chair of the Department of Legal Studies at the University of Central Florida, Judge Frederick Lauten, former Chief Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit for Orange and Osceola Counties, and Scott Maxwell, Orlando Sentinel Columnist. When introduced, Judge Lauten did an admirable and hilarious job of disinfecting his fellow judges and the entire judging area.

Hosted
by the Bard’s Board Barristers, the Margeson Theater was transformed
into a hilarious, interactive courtroom. Actors from Orlando Shakes’
production of Henry IV, Part 1 took the unpredictability of live theater to a whole new level in an
over-the-top, rollicking trial amidst the panel of celebrity judges.

To start Falstaff recounted his heroic fight with some highwaymen who robbed him of the loot he had just hoisted himself. He brandished his sword recreating his every movement in the battle that ensued. With each telling the number of foes he had fought off grew. Then a cloaked figure read off the litany of charges against Falstaff which included larceny, robbery, thievery, lewd and lascivious behavior, public drunkenness, foul oderocity fraud, deceit, embezzlement, false accusations, abuse of power, obstruction of justice, impersonating the king, conspiracy and four counts of claim to murder. The list was hilariously long.

The trial itself began with Darth Vader as the prosecutor and Princess Leia as the defense attorney. Light sabers replaced the more timely swords. During the trial Falstaff got to discuss how honor has no place on a battlefield. The funniest moments came when Bardolph, Falsaff’s side kick was put on the stand to testify. He was incredibly drunk and a very easy witness to sway.

In the end the entire audience was the jury and after our jury instructions, we had to vote on Falstaff’s guilt or innocence. We had to raise out hands and make a guttural Wookiee call when we voted. Despite his clear guilt on many of the counts, he was an important character in the upcoming play, Henry IV Part 2. I voted to acquit, but the final decision was not clear based on the the noise in the theater. Chaos was breaking out. Then Falsaff bounded center stage and shouted, “I have been pardoned!” He ran off stage to murderous applause.

Pandemic Dining Expererince

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FusionFest hosted a Diversitastic Dining Experience at Veggie Garden (1216 E. Colonial Drive, Suite 11 Orlando, FL 32803)

which offers Vietnamese food. You’ll receive a full meal, chef talk about the food and eating customs, entertainment, presentation about the culture and more.
Each month FusionFest will offer patrons a chance to immerse themselves into exploring the tastes, sights, sounds and mindsets of another part of the world.
Each experience is approximately $50 all included.

Earlier this day the World Health Organization had announced that the Covid-19 virus was a pandemic and to avoid the spread of the disease we should  practice social distancing.When I arrived I just kept thinking that crowding together on a deck next to Colonial Drive might not be a great idea. Until Pam arrived I sat a a distance of a bout 20 feet away on a cement bench in the courtyard. The DJ was busy adjusting lights and rubbing his nose with his hand. The music was LOUD to blast away and threat the virus might have had.

The tables were about half as wide as any other table I ever sat at. My knees almost touched the person across from me and when I leaned over my plate and blew on my soup, I just about butted heads with the person across from me. This was not the 6 foot distance that the World Health Organization had advised. Regardless the food was delicious, being cooked by a Buddhist monk.

The appetizers to begin consisted of Bò Bía (Summer Rolls) consisted of rice paper, sauteed carrot, jicama, tofu, fresh lettuce, herbs, peanut sauce. Also offered were crispy Chả Giò (Spring Rolls) which had crispy deep fried roll with shredded vegetables, mung bean, tofu, plum sauce. The main meal was served inside buffet style. That meant I would have to use the serving utensils everyone in the crowd was using, a fine way to transmit a virus hand to hand. There was some hand sanitizer on a counter and I squirted some on my hands after getting my servings. A main dish was, Mì/ Hủ Tiếu Xào which consisted of Sauteed noodle, Soy protein Ham, Tofu and Vegetables. Another dish was Cơm Chiên Thập Cẩm which was Fried rice with mixed vegetables. Everything was vegan.

Terry Olson introduced the evening and a couple performed music which was oddly Italian in theme. Italy has experienced 15,000 cases of the virus as of March 13. 2020. World wide as of March 13, 2020 there have been 200 deaths in Italy as of March 14, 2020 and 5,429 deaths world wide due to Covid-19. Those numbers will be exponentially higher by the time you read this. At my table someone reached out to shake my hand and I offered an elbow bump. It became a joke, but that is how we all greeted each other. The gentleman next to me had just flown back to Orlando From California. He practiced the only social distancing that evening by covering his nose and mouth with a bandanna while he was in the serving area. I respected him for that.



The most impactful and emotional moment of the evening came when Cindy Pham told her story of escaping from Vietnam as a child. She had to travel in a small sail boat and was sea sick for the entire voyage. When in America she had to start life over, not knowing the language. A family in Colorado took her in and she worked her way through college becoming an electrical engineer. She visited Orlando and loved the weather which reminded her of Vietnam. She volunteered at a Buddhist temple and now volunteers at Veggie Garden. The chef came out and spoke for a bit but she knew no English. Cindy translated.



The piano player also performed on a string instrument, walking among the crowd and offering some people the microphone for karaoke. Ugh, three separate people sang into that mic without it being cleaned or disinfected between performances. No one seems to be taking the warnings from the World Heath Organization seriously.  Egon Schiele, one of my favorite artists died at the age of 25 from the epidemic of 1918 right after the First World War. I always wonder what amazing things he might have created had he lived longer.

On a more positive note, the food was delicious and the performances were a delight.

A Dinner Conversation: Best Show

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Pepe (Rob Ward) acted at the MC for the evening for Play in a Day. The auditorium was packed but I found a good spot on the sidelines to sketch from. Nine plays were presented all with the common theme of “Men”. Playwrights had 12 hours to write their plays and the actors and production team had 12 hours to polish and produce the plays. I followed the play written by Tracey Jane, titled The Dinner Conversation. I knew from sketching the rehearsals all day that this was a warm hearted romantic and very funny production. I was of course rooting for them to pull together and create magic on stage.

Pepe introduced each ply in turn and a bongo player accompanied him at one point. Genevieve Bernard choreographed a beautiful dance piece titled, Our Bodies Our Choice. Four woman dancers and on man performed a dance the told a story of abuse followed by a woman’s empowerment. It was bold and left me thinking. They won as the best ensemble for the evening.

Jac LeDoux and Ken Preuss were on a date at the Family Pizza Corral. The set simply consisted of a long red table on which were a series of trays where custom pizzas could be made. I was rooting for their happiness after starting life afresh after divorce. Tracey Jane made the script super easy for the actors because the characters were simply named after the actors playing the part. There were no new names to memorize. When Bennet Preuss and Melanie Leon entered things heated up. Melanie was hilarious with her sexual innuendos and double meanings behind everything she said. She just loved poking fun at her mom and embarrassing her. Melanie’s hilarious performance won her an award as Best Actress. 

While Mel was poking fun, her brother Ben was sullen and resentful.  His mom got divorced while he was away at college and now that he was back she was starting a new relationship with another man.  Jac was loving and caring at every turn and wove an analogy between personal pizzas and individual tastes. However when Ken considered putting pineapple on his pizza, the family had to unite against his pure insanity. He was a food critic and should have known better. Food and family drama were perfectly combined. For this performance I just sat as an audience member to soak it in without the struggle of sketching to distract me. I was delighted and laughed out loud.  I knew where the rough spots in the production might be, but everything flowed smoothly. 

This show directed by Kaitlyn Harrington, and with Destiny Sam as the stage manager won the top honor as the Best Show of the night. I felt so proud, because I knew the blood sweat and tears over 24 hours that went into the magic that happened that night. “Don’t count the days, make the days count.” -Mohamed Ali

NO Weekend Top 6 Picks for March 14 and 15, 2020

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Due to Covid-19 their are NO Top 6 Picks for this Weekend! Orlando is on lock down. STAY HOME. Say Safe.

The World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic. The number of cases of the virus outside China had increased 13 fold. The number of affected countries has tripled. There are no more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries. 429,100 people have died. Thousands more are fighting for their lives in hospitals. The number of cases, deaths and countries affected will continue to climb. WHO has been following the outbreak and they are alarmed by the spread and severity of the disease and they are alarmed by the inaction by governments.  This is the first pandemic caused by a corona virus. 



County Mayor Jerry Demings announced that an Orange County Florida resident died while traveling abroad in California. As of this morning, Demings has declared a local emergency for Orange County. The emergency operations center has been activated and is fully staffed. He compared this outbreak to the three hurricanes that ravaged Central Florida in 2004.   

  • Gatherings of 200 people or more have been canceled. The goal is to stop the spread of the Covid-19 Virus. 
  • The Parks Department will cancel all programs for seniors.
  • Orange County Spring Break camps will continue as planned, but field trips have been canceled.
  • County Special events have been postponed, including Fort Christmas Bluegrass Festival and other events.
  • County run Use Force Leagues have been suspended. Little leagues and youth soccer leagues have started suspensions on their own.

City Mayor Buddy Dyer issued a state of emergency for the city of Orlando.

  • All City events have been canceled through the end of the month, including the plant sale a Leu Gardens, The Sunday Farmers Market at lake Eola.
  • All activities related to seniors have been suspended. 
  • Youth activities will go on.

Disney announced that Walt Disney World will be closed starting Sunday March 15, 2020 through the end of the month. Employees of the Disney theme parks will be paid despite the closure. The hotels at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris will remain
open until further notice. The retail and dining complexes, Disney
Springs at Walt Disney World and Disney Village at Disneyland Paris,
will remain open. All Disney Cruise line departures have been suspended. The release of Disney’s live action remake of Mulan is being delayed with no determined release date due to Covid-19 concerns. Disney has also pulled the release of New Mutants and the Guillermo del Toro produced horror movie AntlersA.

Universal Studios also announced the Universal Orlando Resort will close on Sunday. Hourly employees will be paid for any work scheduled through the end of March, a company spokesperson said in a statement. Universal Orlando’s hotels and Universal CityWalk will remain open.

Legoland also announced closure due to Covid-19.

As of today the City of Orlando has not canceled any city-hosted events and or meetings. I was at a city hosted diversitastic dining event just last night. As we ate dinner, the Theme parks announced closures. The city says they are taking the decision to cancel or postpone city-hosted events very
seriously. There are ongoing discussions that are happening every day as they continue to monitor and evaluate the situation.

CDC’s recommendations to reduce your risk of exposure:

  • Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
  • Stay home when you are sick.
  • Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20
    seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and
    after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. 

Should you see a doctor?

Ask yourself:

  1. Have you traveled outside the U.S. in the last two weeks?
  2. Have you been in close contact with someone testing positive for COVID-19?
  3. Do you have a fever greater than 100 degrees?

A
fever alone does not indicate that you need to be tested for COVID-19. But
if you’ve traveled or come in contact with a COVID-19-positive person,
you need to be tested. Call your medical provider first and get instructions on how to report for a test. Symptoms
of Covid-19 may include fever, cough difficulty breathing and sore
throat. Symptoms generally appear in two to 14 days after exposure. Health officials said most patents experience mild symptoms and can recover at home.

However some patients, particularly those with underlying medical conditions, may experience more severe respiratory illness.

Play in a Day Running Lines

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At Play in a Day, the pressure started to build in the afternoon as the actors started running lines to memorize the script of The Dinner Conversation by Tracey Jane. At times they would go through the script at breakneck speed and other times they would run through at pace. Sometimes actors would pare off and work together in another room to help each other in cementing the lines into memory. Some actors knew their lines forward and backwards right from the start while others had to work hard to commit the lines to memory. The drama of these artist supporting each other grew more pitched as the opening curtain loomed around 7pm that night.

On the fence outside there were inspirational sayings from celebrities written on the fence. One was, “I can accept failure, but I can not accept not trying.” –Michael Jordon. Another was “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” –Bruce Lee. Each saying seemed directed towards the actors as they pulled together to produce a play in just 24 hours. The script had heart, sincerity and humor. I knew I was watching some amazing theater magic. They might stumble through lines in rehearsal but on stage some undefinable force would pull everything together.

“Mistakes are proof you are trying.” -Unknown. Every sketch I do feels like a series of mistakes. It is reassuring and inspiring that live theater is as human an art.