I can't believe a year went by so fast!

I was going to make a big long post about my recent injury and my journey to rent and all the way through it, but I don't think I really want to do all that. I'd rather take the time to celebrate my cast, and the crew that made it possible to put on the wonderful show that is Rent. I don't plan on being too long winded, but I can't even begin to express my gratitude towards my fellow cast members for all the work they've put in and how they all believed in this show and its message, and they believed in each other, and me as well. I thank our director Scott for trusting us as actors with his vision and letting us experiment and bring our best to the characters. And of course I have to thank our crew and band, The actors bring the heart and soul, and the director is the brain, but the crew and the band are the body, and our body was pretty damn strong. Theatre isn't something you can do alone. It takes so many people working together that it felt wrong to talk about myself today, on the day of our final show. Rent is a show about community and that's what this group is, a tight nit community that wants to see everyone else succeed. All I'll say is I've been extremely blessed to get to perform my two dream rolls back to back, and I can't wait for what the future holds! I plan to continue the blog, though early access to Elder Scrolls Online starts tomorrow so it may be a while, with posts about my future acting endeavors and talk about video games. I'm off to get ready for tonight! Viva La Vie Boheme!

Let he among us without sin be the first to condemn.

I'm a Christian, that's something that is sometimes a little hard to say in the theatre industry. It's time we think about why, in an industry that accepts pretty much everyone, Christians are sort of a soar subject. Could it be because we as Christians are one of the least accepting groups of all? I think it probably is. Now before you start calling me a blasphemer, I'd like to talk about why I feel this way. I really don't need to look any further than the discrimination bills that hide under the cloak of "religious freedom bills." I mean Jesus only ever served people with Christian morals, Right? No, he served everyone, the lepers and the prostitutes, and taught love and peace, and somewhere along the way we lost all of that. Trust me, as someone who works at a very popular Sunday morning restaurant I've seen the worst of people who claim to be Christian. When I was in college I once made a Facebook post about how atheists always seem to be treating Christians like we're stupid. I was mad about that, but then a friend of mine posted, "now you know how we've felt our entire lives." That seems like a rude comment but then it hit me, Christians do mistreat atheists, and gays, and a whole plethora of others, and it only makes sense that they mistreat us in return. It doesn't make it right but that's how people are. Then again it's not right for us to mistreat people in the first place. Jesus said it was extremely important to love your neighbor, and he didn't put on the stipulation that the neighbor in question has to be doing what you think is right. Rent is a show that a lot of Christians think is bad. It has a gay relationship, it has AIDS, it has sex, but when it comes down to it, it's a lot like Godspell. They're both about love and coming together even when people are different than you. One of the guys in my cast had a friend in the audience who he said was super conservative, a Mormon, and she texted him at intermission, and said 'how could anyone think what's happening here is wrong." That's an extremely powerful thing to hear. It make it all worth doing. I mean remember "let he among us without sin be the first to condemn," and we all sin, so as Christians lets put the stones down and learn to love everyone again. I apologize for this socially charged post, and I don't think I'll have anymore like this, but it's something that needed to be said.

Calm Down, Everyone Please!

So I decided since a link to my blog is in the program I'd write another post before we have our preview tonight. Which is what I want to talk about. I'm nervous, I always get nervous before shows, I probably always will get nervous before shows. As a young kid I always had stage fright. I went to a private elementary school where we were all in the choir, and when we'd preform I'd always hide in the back. Till one day we were at a retirement home in Saint Charles and it was taking a while to step up so I started talking to the older folks who were there to watch us, but I was still on stage, and I started cracking jokes, and they were laughing and enjoying it, and all of a sudden I was at ease. Like I had never been nervous to preform in my life. It's weird how things like that work, I'll be nervous till I get in front of the audience and preform a song, and hear them clap, and then I know that they're rooting for me, they want me to be awesome and give them something to take away. I know some actors and actresses who can go out for the opening of a show and not be nervous, but I don't think that will ever be me. So when the lights come up and I enter tonight, and see those people, and say the words "We begin on Christmas eve..." I will be screaming on the inside, but by the end of the title song I'll be more than ready to blow people away, and hopefully change a few people for the better.

I'm Mark! Well this is quite an opperation...

      I don't really know how to blog so forgive me if this all seems like rambling. I'm currently playing Mark Cohen in New Line Theatre's production of Rent. For those that don't know New Line is a local Non-union professional theater company in Saint Louis, Missouri. Now that I've got that exposition out of the way I guess I'll tell you all about myself. My name is Jeremy Hyatt, and up until this point I've only ever done community theater. I just turned 21 and I enjoy playing video games. It seems through theater and games I spend more time pretending to be someone else then actually being myself, but don't let that fool you, I'm very happy with where I am in life. I was always the kid who wanted to play pretend, more then tag, more than even freeze tag. I enjoyed all the thing I could do with just my imagination. I could be on a far away planet fighting aliens, or a young aspiring filmmaker in 1989 Alphabet City, New York, or even myself in some crazy situation that would never happen in real life, and that was always awesome to me.
      Video games have been a part of my life since I was born. My mom when I was a younger kid and the economy was better was a stay at home mom, and so if she would ever get bored during the day she would put in Super Mario Bros or Sonic to the Nintendo or Sega and we would play. It was a place where I could go besides just my head to be in a different place. When I started into RPGs my mine was blown by the fact I could create a character who was like me, but in those other worlds, and so my love for pretending just grew. Then MMORPGs where I could hangout as my other self with my friends other selves, and other people's other selves from around the world was just the logical next step because almost everything is better with friends, right?
       So then how did I get into acting? Well I was in choir starting in 7th grade, because my friends had told me that when we weren't doing stuff we were allowed to play games, see how that leads in, and I just grew to love singing, but there was always a part of me that wanted to step out and be noticed instead of just being part of the group. I finally got that chance when I was 16 and a sophomore in high school and a friend asked me "Hey, we need more guys for this show, do you wanna do it?" I said yes in an instant and auditioned and made my first show, High School Musical with Maryland Heights Community Theatre. Now I know you're all thinking "oh know HSM," but it's where I started my journey and where I met Evan, who is now playing Roger in Rent, for the first time.