A lot is said about having a “bucket list” of things you want to do before you die. Many people can become unhealthily obsessed with trying to check off their bucket list items rather than just enjoying their lives as they unfold. However, sometimes opportunities present themselves that you can’t resist.

I studied English literature in university and it was at the time when Shakespeare was having a bit of a “comeback” thanks to Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V and Dead Poet’s Society. I took drama in high school but we never staged any Shakespeare and I never sought out any productions in university. It has been one of my lifelong dreams to appear in a Shakespearean play but I thought that opportunity had passed me by.

I get a weekly newsletter from the Nashua Chamber of Commerce about goings on in downtown Nashua, and one week they posted that the Nashua Theatre Guild was holding auditions for a production of Twelfth Night that they would be holding in Greeley Park this summer. I decided that this was the opportunity I had always wanted. A few days after auditions I received an email that I was selected for the role of Feste. What a tremendous opportunity!

I’ve been going off the deep end a little in preparing for the role but the opportunity to examine Shakespeare again, to work in drama again, has just been so wonderful I can barely put words to it. I hope to have more updates before we perform.