A Lenten reflection drawn from my book Theatre Is My Life! explores JB, Archibald MacLeish’s modern retelling of the biblical story of Job. Remembering a 1995 production at Samford University Theatre, I reflect on the role of Job as Everyman and on the questions that still echo from the ash heap: Why do we suffer? And why does God seem silent?

At a crossroads, the instinct is often to wait for certainty. But what if the sacred moment lies not in waiting, but in choosing? Inspired by Carlos Solórzano’s avant-garde play Cruce de vías, a pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona, and the theatre’s language of entrances and cues, this reflective essay explores how life’s turning points invite courage, transformation, and movement into the unknown.

A meditation on Mozart’s birthday, Salieri’s astonishment in Amadeus, and the courage it takes to believe that creativity does not originate in us, but moves through us. If Mozart could be unruly, imperfect, and still a vessel for the sacred, perhaps the rest of us can risk creating too.

Using Linus’s blanket in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown as a theatrical touchstone, this essay reflects on actors’ relationships to costumes and props, the psychology of comfort objects, and how a simple blanket became an unlikely ally in breaking a cycle of pain. A meditation on performance, embodiment, and the need for a cozy sanctuary.

A famous operatic hope, an unexpected diagnosis, and the quiet work of Advent waiting

The most casual encounters can change your life

In the lead-up to Thanksgiving, a single line from Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters keeps resurfacing in my mind.

Ever had dinner change your life? Lemonal tells the story of how a simple lemon chicken meal turned into a moment of cosmic clarity — and what the Celts, Shakespeare, and Richard Rohr have to do with it.

Did you ever have to swallow your pride?

On stage, the past can always be present!

Are you living your one life for yourself?

Have You Swum a Moat Lately?

Have you ever had to sacrifice an old treasure to make a new one?

Musings on the Name of My Daughter…

“What did your face look like before your parents were born?”

What comes to mind where you hear those age-old words, “Once upon a time…”?

The Landscape Is the Womb that Gives Birth to our Creative Siring

Have You Learned the Secrets of Electricity?

Does your nickname suit you or irk you?

Academic theatre is not just for drama majors…