Captain's Log...

7/19/2015

Welcome Aboard Friends,

Let me tell you a little bit about the time I got to be Captain James T. Kirk.

I'm a moderate fan of Star Trek.  I've probably seen most of the all time best original series episodes but I have come nowhere close to seeing every episode, of any of the Star Trek series.  So of course several years ago when I heard that some theatre friends of mine were putting on a live parody of the series I had to go.  It was a blast.  The jokes were great.  Capt. Kirk got all the ladies.  Tribbles and dead Red Shirts were everywhere.

Then I got asked to play a 'guest star' role in an upcoming episode.  It was wonderful.  It would turn out to be one of the best decisions I could make, agreeing to be in that one episode.

What I thought would be a one time thing quickly turned into regular 'guest star' roles.  I made lots of new friends.  It was a great way to be able to perform on a regular basis that didn't require all the work that normally goes into a live theatre production.  We did a new show every month, and because we didn't memorize our lines, we only needed to rehearse once a week.

This is where I would meet my wife.  She stabbed me on stage before we even went out on our first date.

Then came the time that our current Capt. Kirk was leaving.  I volunteered/hinted that I would or could be Capt. Kirk and I got the job.  So to speak.  It was a unique and wonderful experience to be able to step into the shoes of a favorite character of mine as a kid, and still as an adult.  Turns out, I do a fairly entertaining Shatner-esque Kirk.  I even moved a few people to tears once or twice.  I'm really proud of that one.

Like all things, the time came to move on to other things, and to my surprise, was hard to do.  It wasn't easy leaving something I had loved doing for the last two plus years.  But it will always be one of the best times I ever had.

Thanks,

D