Why not? Well, to be blunt, I was terrible. I played bit parts and had minor speaking roles. I thought I was better than I was but knew I couldn't hold a candle to some of the more talented members of the group. Now, everybody comes from a town with a local hero. The truth is, most of these kids are very good only when compared to the very average. It's the big fish/small pond phenomenon. That said, there is that small handful of people who actually have the goods but for any number of reasons don't wind up on stage, on screen, or in the NFL.

Hell, it's what I'm doing here. Just about all of us who write for BC Magazine have dreams of writing full time and making a living at it, but as Lennon said, "Life's what happens while you're busy making other plans." Life happens. We get married, some of us have families. We don't get that lucky break or we make other choices and take different paths. Sometimes we lose each other along the way. Sometimes, if we're lucky, we get to travel that path not taken one more time. Sometimes, we reunite with those dreams and those people. So let me tell you about last night.

My wife and I attended Theatre Huntsville's performance of Paul Rudnick's comedy I Hate Hamlet, directed by Kim Parker. Former TV star Andrew Rally (Jake Barrow) moves from L.A. to New York and into the former home of John Barrymore, having been roped into playing Hamlet in Central Park. Rally is just down-to-earth enough to know he has no business playing one of the most challenging roles ever written in one of the world's most famous plays. But his "entourage" is pushing him to go through with it, and deep down he desperately wants to accept and meet the challenge even though he thinks it will likely be a disaster. He has six weeks to prepare for the role of a lifetime, and there to help him is the ghost of John Barrymore (Phil Parker).

Parker and Barrow commit the cardinal sin of making it all look so damn easy. Too easy. How easy did they make it look? Easy enough I forgot why I abandoned my career as an aspiring thespian... for two hours, anyway. Rudnick's text gives Parker creative license to play Barrymore as the larger-than-life icon he was, and he does so with zeal. When the script calls for the more human and contemplative Barrymore, Parker gives the role dignity. Barrow, meanwhile, has the challenge of being a good actor trying to play a bad one. That can't be easy, but you wouldn't know it from Barrow's portrayal. The supporting cast is likable and talented, but the magic happens when these two are onstage together. Their timing is brilliant, and the stage really opens up when the two are left alone to needle and nudge one another.