Seems like all I’ve been doing is learning my lines for “Jockey Jim”or going to rehearsal at the Henry Clay. This play is written by my friend and great playwright Larry Muhammad, (https://insiderlouisville.com/lifestyle_culture/larry-muhammad-play-highlights-the-fascinating-story-of-black-jockey-jimmy-winkfield/  and https://www.power2give.org/campaigns/376) I have the female lead, Lydia de Minkiwitz, James Winkfield’s wife who was a Russian baroness, so I have my share of lines, and I have learned them, YES! And I’m saying them all with a Russian accent, ha! I have five costume changes, below is a picture of my favorite costume, haha, you guessed it, it’s glam!

(See more about the truly amazing Jimmy Winkfield here: http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/jimmy-winkfield-horse-racing-legend)

We’re in tech and dress rehearsal week, which means 5+ hour long rehearsals everyday this week. We open on Saturday. It is amazing to see how far we’ve come, from “No way. This is never going to get done!” to “Hey we’re doing it!” to “No (ok, not many) problem, we’ve got this!” This happens every time a play is put on, every time I’ve been in a play I’ve started with “Are you kidding me?! How many lines do you want me to learn? Yeah right!” and ended with “Wow, I learned ALL the lines!” And all the stage directions, and all the smiles, and hugs, tears, pouts, and champagne toasts (we’re actually doing all that in Jockey Jim.) And so it is with “Jockey Jim.”

Annoying, exhilarating, amazing, heart in your throat process, that finally yields one hell of a performance and one hell of a good play. We’re getting there, it’s all coming together. Today we had our first dress rehearsal, and from now on, they’re all dress rehearsals. Tomorrow, we add makeup and hair too. I have to wear a gray wig for the older scenes, oh well…

My character’s age goes from 30’s – 70’s. Difficult for me to do aged, struggling with that. I keep forgetting I’m supposed to be 65 years old, oops… hope I don’t give the director a conniption…

I hope all my Louisville friends come to see us, it’s going to be one fine play!

In the dressing room, with my favorite costume, of course! 🙂