The Cleve

Cleveland is a bittersweet city.

The downtown area where we live (Alternatively 'Reservation Square' or 'The Apartments Next To The Crack House) is a mix of industrial burnout and magnificent theatre extravaganza. We're literally a block from Playhouse Square, where you can see a classical repertory company one night, the blue man group the next, Billy Elliot after that, then finish off with Louis C.K. stand-up.
The very next day, you could hang out on the corner of Chester and 13th and watch a for-reals drug bust go down.

As I said to one of the other actors here, "I want to start the second season of The Wire, but I might as well just stand on the front steps."

There are wonderful things if you know where to find them, and my "OH GOD ITS MY FIRST TIME IN THIS CITY" jitters have come and gone, so I'm no stranger to taking a stroll down Superior to the restaurants on 4th street--or swinging by Tower City to snag a book at their teensy tiny Borders. As I mosey around, I can't help but notice that most of the skyscrapers here are empty and gutted, with down-and-out homeless folks lying in the alleys with rumpled paper bags cradled under their arms. How they manage to find cover during the sporadic two-hour thunderstorms is beyond me. I wonder if the Safety Ambassadors (bike-mounted windbreakered whistleblowers) are any help. There's a smokers' pole on every corner and 'No Smoking' signs on every bus stop, and cigarette filters EVERYWHERE--as if Hunter S Thompson acid-crawled the streets on his hands and knees.

The diamonds in the rough are there for the taking, though. Last weekend I carpooled with some other cast members to the Westside Market, an indoor farmers' market of overwhelming proportions where you could get a fresh farm-raised chicken directly from the person who plucked it. Like cinnamon honey butter? Check out one of FIVE dairy vendors. Want some obscure Mediterranean cheese? Fresh challa bread? Prosciutto? Caviar? How about a crepe and an espresso while you wait for the Amish guy to wrap a steak for you? Be sure to write a shopping list (I foolishly did not.)

My home-base is a fully furnished one-bedroom apartment with free internet and HBO on demand(!) Every Thursday it gets cleaned for me(!?) and it is literally a 4-minute walk from the rehearsal space(!?!!?!?) As I adapt to the new rhythm here, I enjoy it more and more.

That is to say, I haven't DRIVEN anywhere yet. So....fuck.

Love love love,
Dak