After months of hard work and concentrated effort, I am pleased to report that my newest solo theater show has opened to extraordinary success.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t nervous on opening night. Yet confidence was with me, as was the audience, and the night became one of the most exhilarating I’ve ever experienced.

With 100% new material exploring controversial and thought provoking topics in an avant-garde manner, I am extremely proud of this new show. I will be working over the next couple of months to tighten up the scripting, streamline blocking, and add a new and impressive lighting plot to the show. Readers will also soon see a new website devoted specifically to this one show. Check back here for details to come.

Just in time for the work-in-progress show at the Flynn Center on the 23rd, Seven Days has published an extremely lengthy article on my work entitled Deep Throat - Preview: Sword Swallower Roderick Russell by Gail Rosenberg.

I’ve been trying to convince myself that the title is referencing the recent hubbub surrounding the Watergate confession rather than the string of highly stimulating films by the same title, but regardless of the reference, the article is really very good and I couldn’t have asked for a better plug. It’s featured on the front page, has a large four page spread inside and includes several photographs in both black & white and color. Also appearing in the same issue is a very large ad for the show and a full description in the calendar section of the paper. The coverage is superb.

I was just recently saying to a friend, in regards to doing some new radio promotion, that the audience I need to target is not the rock stations that seem to be so plentiful, but the NPR stations that I hold near and dear. And just like that - poof - the flagship NPR station of the northeast - WBUR in Boston - runs a short bit about my new work-in-progress show.

Apparently the releases that the Flynn Center recently sent out were enough to catch their attention and secure the opening sentence in their June Arts Highlights section with the following phrase: The tip of the iceberg of summer festival programming features some strange stuff, including a guy who dances while swallowing swords.