I lost my father this past month.

I always thought that was a funny way of putting it, “I lost…” But it’s really the best way of expressing the suddenness with which a loved one can leave when they pass away. One moment he was here, and then… gone. No more phone calls at ten o’clock on Sunday mornings, no golf in the summer, lazy conversations about the weather, politics, money, taxes, the price of gas. No advice. No more wondering how much longer he can hold on.

It wasn’t until I was back in New York, after the eulogy, the obituary, packing up his belongings, that I realized how much was missing from my life now that he is gone. And with each passing day, I realize even more. You would think that the passing of time would make death easier to accept. Things change, people come and go… and yet it actually only seems to me that the more time passes, the more his presence, or rather his absence, is felt. He grows, at least his memory does, and it gets bigger somehow. Every day that I think about him, I feel even more that vacuum left behind. And as that space expands, there’s nothing to fill it. It’s just an empty hole. And where there is emptiness, there is loss. In that space, something used to be, to exist. And now… nothing.

It’s a little grainy and murky, but this is what my cellphone saw in Times Square after the GIANTS WON!

Here’s the latest press from the show:

 
The Good Fight
by Doug Strassler
Off-Off Online
All Aboard the Marriage Hearse reviewed January 18, 2007
 
 

 
Nicholas J. Coleman Creates a Special Kind of Silence
by Joseph F. Panarello
BroadwayWorld.com
Sunday, January 27, 2008

By now you probably know a LITTLE about the WGA (Writer’s Guild of America) strike that has stopped production of your favorite television shows. What you may NOT know is all of the various ins and outs of what’s been going on between the WGA and the AMPTP (American Motion Picture and Television Producers).

Basically, the Writers would like to be better compensated for the sales of DVDs, and would like a fair share of revenue from internet content (iPod downloads, streaming media, etc). There are other concerns as well, but these two are the major sticking points, as the AMPTP claims that they make no money from online content, and that the demands of the WGA will ultimately cost too much money.

Here is an update on the last 30 days of activity. Chiefly interesting is the continued announcements about newly formed online content storefronts (designed to make no money? I think not) and the incredible contracts offered to studio executives. Keep in mind that this link is not ALL of the news… it’s news written from the WGA perspective.

1 hour and 30 minutes, 72 pages of dialog, two actors.

Opening night of All Aboard the Marriage Hearse went great!

It’s crazy to think that one week ago today we were still struggling with lines and wondering what we’d gotten ourselves into. I’ve never done a play with only myself and another actor/actress, so I’m very proud of the work involved. It’s a powerful feeling, knowing the whole play rests on just the two of you… if something goes wrong, it’s your fault. I’ve never really had nerves before a show, but yesterday I did… not about lines, or forgetting anything, but about the responsibility to the audience. Usually you’re sharing the responsibility with other people… not so in a two hander. If they aren’t entertained, it’s no one to blame but you.

Anyhow, the show seemed to go over well with the audience… they got all of the humor we saw in it and still stayed with us in the more serious moments. I’m very happy with the show we gave, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the run!

Oh yeah… I forgot to mention I’m one of the photographers featured in the newest edition of The New York Agent Book.

Check it out!