When you're lucky enough to do something you very much enjoy for a living, it is easy to overlook the bad that comes along with so much good.

Theatre people often run into that. There are dozens of ... shall we say "questionable" employers around these fifty states that still manage bang-up productions and pleasant experiences for most involved.

Right now I and my fellow fortunates are touring HAMLET. Saturday, however, the level of ill will, lack of repsect for and level of poor performance by management, plus an impending financial breach of contract, led to something rather unthinkable to me. We had to walk out. We were willing to compromise our contract in favor of a new very fair one we presented to management, they didn't sign, we walked away from a voluntary free performance. We said we would not perform until the new document was signed, and it had to be signed before midnight the next day when breach would occur. It was signed. It's a really tenuous situation.

Needless to say, I don't have a lot of faith in it lasting the length of the amended contract - we have an agreement within the cast that if one small part of the new document is broken, we all leave with no chance of return. And with the level of tension right now, I have a feeling SOMEONE will leave.

Yes - what happened was we essentially had to unionize in an already unionized profession against management.

How very Newsies of us.

Next week's a big DVD week... anyone feel like sending some downtrodden opressed artists a gift? For the proletariat, man!