A brief glance at my own social media shows how antisocial I’ve become online.
I used to post fairly regularly—at least on Facebook and Instagram—with updates on my life and career, viewpoints on politics and current events, and even simple observations about human existence that I found funny.
But looking at my social media, I can see an almost total drop-off from mid-March—when so many of our lives and careers were upended, politics and current events were overshadowed by fear and survival, and there was very little to find funny.
Eight months into this madness, it’s past the point of being “the new normal” as we called it for a while—it’s just normal now. And I’m moving forward in this sad, strange timeline we’ve fallen into, but first I want to look back and do a quick recap:
- I was on tour when the pandemic forced theatres to close, and was laid off with nine months left on a year-long contract. I went back to my childhood home in Ashburnham, MA, with my then-girlfriend, my brother, and his girlfriend, where we played a lot of video games and ate a lot of everything.
- I did a month of Insanity workouts before deciding that the program was too insane for me, I learned to bake sourdough bread (like everybody else), and I planted a vegetable garden, thinking that I wouldn’t be around for harvest time…I was.
- My relationship ended—I suppose that when it comes to gauging compatibility, a global pandemic is a solid litmus test.
- My relationships with my family members expanded and complicated, having not lived in close quarters with them for a very long time (except for my brother, with whom I shared an apartment for the last couple of years). Most notably, I was able to spend a lot of time with my niece, who recently turned 2; had I been on tour, I wouldn’t have been able to see her at all—so there are silver linings.
- I moved back to my apartment in New York after six months, not because I was sick of living with family (honestly, it was hard to leave), but because I needed to move forward and felt that going back to some semblance of pre-pandemic life was the best way to do that.
- And as our tour’s restart date continued to get pushed back, my worries about the state of unemployment and government stimulus continued to grow. More on that subject soon.
- Oh, and recently, my parents got a puppy! She’s a 9-week-old standard poodle named Lucy and she’s excellent.
So that’s my spring/summer/fall in a nutshell.
In coming days, I’ll be posting some things: an explanation of what theatre professionals are going through right now and our dependence on government stimulus to stay afloat, a song that I wrote when I first moved to NYC (and an accompanying video that I recently shot with a buddy), and some random thoughts on Randy Newman.
I’ve also been trying my hand at some graphic design, so if I’m motivated enough I may update my blog a bit with something other than WordPress presets.
So stay tuned—and stay healthy.
P.S. If you feel like it, leave a comment below and let me know what you’ve been up to this year! Any special recipes that you’ve mastered? New skills that you’re excited about? Shows to binge-watch while contemplating the sustainability of late-stage capitalism?
Sam..great to read your catch up. Sorry to hear about your break up…yes this has changed Carolyn’s and my dynamic too. We have never been together this long since we got married. Yes the now normal as you called it and how I spent it. We stayed here in our home. Lots of DIY projects…Carolyn is cleaning doors as I write this. A highlight was shooting A TOUCH OF THE POET and watching the film we shot in our homes with green screen for Irish Rep. We were about to head into tech when the plug got pulled. Normally I would be in NC rehearsing Scrooge for my 8th time. I miss that and with each passing day miss that more. Two self tapes to do…but one of those days where it is hard to get motivated. Highly recommend QUEENS GAMBIT. Looking forward to staying in touch. Stay well.
Hey David! Thanks for saying so–it’s been a hard time for a lot of couples, but it’s great that you two have a long, shared history. And I’m sorry that Scrooge isn’t happening; hopefully you’ll be humbugging again next year!
Yeah, the motivation is one of the hardest things about this pandemic. I find myself spending too much time doing nothing, but who can really blame us? Keep at it–we’ll make it through to the other side soon enough.
Sam thank you for recounting the past several months and sharing with honesty, it is refreshing. Nothing about this year has turned out quite the way we expected. The pandemic forced a premature move back to NYC for me and my family from South America, where we had planned to live for a while. When we returned we had no home to come back to, it was unpleasant but we managed, leaning on friends for support. I too find myself without work. I was fortunate enough to work on a short term job this fall, a broadway show that filmed for Netflix. There were so many protocols for safety. It took away from the inherent joyful energy of live production. In short, it was weird. My daughters are in school, online and in person, and it’s a very different school year. But they are resilient and doing well. We too got a ‘Pandemic Pet’, a rescue puppy Sydney, who is a lovely distraction!
Hi Clare! Of course–I feel like if we’re not going to be more in touch with our humanity in times like this, we’re wasting a lot of potential. I’m sorry to hear you had to come back from South America early–you were really looking forward to that. But I’m glad you were able to find some work, even if it felt a little soulless in comparison to the norm. I find the same with zoom acting gigs–reciting lines into a webcam just isn’t the same as sharing a stage with scene partners and existing in the same space as the audience.
Pandemic Pets are the best! I didn’t realize how much I needed a therapy dog until I started playing with that pup.
LUCY PICTURES NOW!
please
ASAP, I promise.
Sam, Good to read about your last months. I’m so sorry for the difficulties you and so many are facing. I’m yearning for an end to this nightmare and a return to normalcy and our ability to both perform and see performances live. I’ve been very busy teaching on the internet. The one awful bit of all of this is my inability to visit my children in Toronto with any frequency, as a two week quarantine is required each time I enter Canada. Warm regards to you, Neil