I'm one of Brian's friends from college and Champlain Shakespeare Festival days. I have so many memories of Brian, but two specific ones make me smile whenever I think of them. The first was the summer of 1979. We were doing Measure for Measure. He was Claudio and I was Juliet. Our director had chosen what she called "Gothic Futurism" as the concept for the piece. Those characters who were the greatest sinners were slathered in gold makeup. Brian and I were doused in it. The prop baby I was given at the end was a block of wood covered by silver metallic cloth. I was miserable and Brian knew it. During strike, as a gift to me, he hung this prop in effigy.
The following summer we did A Midsummer Night's Dream. Brian was Lysander and I was Hermia. The final night of performance the actor playing Bottom decided to do a bit of ad-libbing. Toward the end of the play, when we were asleep in the forest, our Bottom said "The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, the feet of man hath not smelled...nay feet do smell a little..." and I began to vibrate with silent laughter. My movement threatened the verisimilitude of the scene so Brian tightened his grip on me and, through clenched teeth, as quietly but as intensely as he could, whispered "Stop It, Stop it!", until he just gave in and silently began to laugh with me.
Goodbye
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Nurse Mary was spot on. Around 9:40, Thursday, August 20, Killian quietly
slipped away. We knew and didn’t know it was coming. We were just hanging
out wit...
15 years ago