Intro

So many of us desire for that long-sought muse of fire;

Storytellers, players, can not help but to such goals aspire.

The world-stage’s muse, we know, is only barely out of reach;

Life informs both book and stage, and what grand stories it can teach!

Oh, but for the little time we have and risks we take,

Think of the Globe walls that casques from Agincourt could break!

Stories to be seen or read so rarely render patrons dead.

Such a muse has many slain.  I would rather entertain.

The Chorus of Shakespeare’s Henry V laments the players’ inability to produce a show nearly so grand as the original events the history-play sought to detail… and really, who doesn’t find war victory exciting?  Still, I’d rather watch the play than watch England beat the tar out of France.  Crazy, isn’t it?  Stories are spectacular things!  They whisk us away to worlds and adventures that are glorious in theory but often quite horrible in practice.  A story without conflict is generally boring, but who genuinely wants to live the sort of excitement the characters in, for example, Lord of the Rings have to deal with?  Goodness knows, I wouldn’t!  Hand me a script, a pencil, a book, or a ticket to the show, I say!

Stories accomplish remarkable, wonderful things.  Think of all the agony that can be saved when we learn lessons from stories instead of from personal experience.  Moreover, in the right setting, even terrible tragedy can be rendered fun.  Stories and shows comment, inform, present social problems for solving, and (when they’re really good) make us think and feel.  I hope to spend the rest of my life being a part of that.

Someone else can have the “muse of fire.”  Give me any of the 9 original Grecian muses (maybe barring Urania, who traditionally only deals in astronomy), but I’ll leave “the port of Mars” to the King Henry the Fifths of the world.

So, if you have occasion, let me entertain you!  If it be your will, gentles all, I will act, sing, dance, write, and share with you tales from all corners of the globe (and possibly the Globe, as well).  If at any point you find you’re not having fun, feel free to throw produce at me from a fair dodging-distance.  — E.G.D.