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Avant garde actor in Barcelona (Photo by Rob Huibers)

Ripple

If my words did glow
with the gold of sunshine,
and my tunes were played
on the harp I strum,
would you hear my voice
come through the music?
Would you hold it near,
as it were your own?
It's a hand-me-down.
The thoughts are broken.
Perhaps they're better left un-sung.
I don't know.
Don't really care.
Let there be songs to fill the air.
Ripple in still waters,
when there is no pebble tossed,
Nor wind to blow.
Reach out your hand,
if your cup be empty.
If your cup is full,
may it be again.
Let it be known
there is a fountain
that was not made by the hands of men.
There is a road,
no simple highway,
between the dawn and the dark of night.
And if you go,
No one may follow.
That path is for your steps alone.
Ripple in still waters,
when there is no pebble tossed,
nor wind to blow.
If you choose,
to leave must follow.
But if you fall, you fall alone.
If you should stand,
Then who is to guide you?
If I knew the way,
I would take you home.
La da da da da
La da da da da
Da da da da da
La da da da da
La da da da da
La da da da da
La da da da da
La da da da da.

The Grateful Dead

I was rehearsing for a play and film named We Three Kings in New Orleans. I started in this space in New Orleans more than a year ago, but the effort had been underway for a year already. I've had to quit the play for health reasons .



When the rehearsals moved to New York, I carried some props north in my van, which I had been living in 3.5 years.



I did some writing along the way. But I lost my Sprint air card and 10 years of documents in South Georgia. They were found, but never made it to New York. So I went back to spiral notebooks for awhile.



Washington Square at sunset shortly after I arrived. Someone said I brought this good weather from New Orleans. I had to live on the streets for a couple of days because of a budget shortfall. But a nephew rescued me.



Chak and I laid out the circle of pvc tubing which held the scrims. Chak is an Australian sound engineer. He did most of the work.



Meryl Murman, a talented artist and increasingly-experienced director, directs the production. Here she and Chak coordinate to synchronize sound with video.



Emilie Whelan of New Orleans, a writer and teacher, wrote most of the dialogue and made emergency changes on-the-spot like a veteran playwright.



One-quarter of a foam-rubber donut where a limited-size audience rests comfortably with heads-toward-the-center, while the filmed part is projected on scrims encircling the donut at their feet.



Meryl and Nick Saulet, a very good actor. The brown dress is worn by an actor who plays "Three Years Pregnant."







Murman, a dancer, choreographs the scenes.





One night after rehearsals we went to the White Horse Tavern, where I wrote during the day, for sentimental reasons. Dylan Thomas and Brendan Behan used to hang there too.





Meryl and Maranda Barskey, who handled the other actors' travel and living arrangements, etc., in the Big Apple.



My mortal words written at a table in the White Horse one afternoon when I wasn't needed at rehearsal. Click these photos once for close-up views.



Dylan Thomas, who did more drinking than writing at the White Horse, it is said.





E'myri Lewis, a delightful 9-year-old actor from New Orleans, clowning for my camera before the colored lights of a projector.








Katryn Schmidt, who plays Three Years Pregnant, in the film which is a dream sequence about three characters going down the Mississippi River (as the River Styx) trying to be re-born into better lives.



This cat is innocent.



Chak returning from the men's room on that long and lonesome hallway.









Kelly, who plays a southern belle, was in New York for final filming before flying off to Italy to meet her true love.



That's Nick costumed as a dishwasher who wants to be re-born in New York City.





Some of the crew after the final takes, headed for an Indian restaurant on East Sixth Street.



Meryl appearing on Bob Fass' Radio Unnameable at WBAI(99.5 FM; wbai.org) after a long hard day of work, where she received the Stainless Steel Alligator Award.















Okay, Mam-ma?