The Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Second largest in the world.

Learning how to put on an Abaya was fun actually although my hair

was not having it and tendrils kept sneaking out to say hello to the world.

This place was breathtaking. So white, so pristine, so gigantic.

Pacific Resident Theatre

Just finished up 2 great readings at PRT!!

The first was Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring with Marilyn Fox, Matt Mckenzie, Sarah Brooke, Tony Pasqualini, Kevin Quinn, Dan Kozlowski, Vince Melocchi, Lee Debroux, Christian Anderson, and Brad Greenquist.

The second was the British comedy Dog Days by Simon Gray directed by Michael Rothhaar.

This theatre company is a must for theatre lovers. They consistently produce great theatre on their mainstage as well and poignant and edgy projects in their smaller spaces initiated by company members. More info at www.pacificresidenttheatre.com

Young Playwrights Festival

The Global Theatre Project

I would like to invite you to spend this Friday night (February 25th at 7:30pm) with Ed Harris, James Cromwell and me. These fabulous actors will be doing a reading of the play Being Harold Pinter in order to raise money for the GLOBAL THEATRE PROJECT, which is a not for profit theater organization that supports theatre companies from around the world. This evening's donations will be going towards supporting the BELARUS FREE THEATRE. I became affiliated with the GLOBAL THEATRE PROJECT while acting in Florence and will be one of the hosts of the event on Friday.

Happy New Year! Buon Anno Nuovo! May this be a year of Creation, Ambition, Exploration, Success and Fun.

Auguri!

You Wouldn't Know the Sahara Desert If You Were Standing In the Middle of It.

We are driving from Abu Dhabi to the south to the Saudi Arabian border. We pass lots of sand and camels on the side of the road giving me bedroom eyes. We then turned off the main "highway" (I use this term very lightly) and got onto a gravel road going into miles and miles of red sand dunes. In every direction that is all you can see. They are neverending, breathtaking, like silent soldiers, waiting patiently. They are comforting and daunting all at the same time. We drove for about 10 miles and came to this arch way made of ceramic. "This must be the camel sheperd colony," I thought to myself. Chris had told me we were staying in a tent. And I believed him. But as we passed through this gate, we headed down into a dune valley and all the sudden it appeared. Our oasis. Our 5 Star Oasis.

Little villas spread out over the dunes. We enter the palatial lobby greeted by men in turbans. We are served hot tea, dates and fresh crushed strawberry juice. We watched the sun set over the desert and there are now millions of stars. It's 3:10 in the morning. Chris is sleeping, but I'm out on the balcony star-gazing. The temperature has dropped considerably. I can't believe I'm here.

We had our first (and probably last) alcohol of the trip here. Beer tastes that much better when you know it is "forbidden."

http://qasralsarab.anantara.com/

It would be worth it to come to this paradoxical country simply to see the desert. The best part about it is that I would have been just as happy sleeping in a tent with the camel sheperds. But tonight I will settle for this mecca :-).