It's been great to jump into the SLAC experience.  Most of the folks here know each other so well and have worked together so many times already, and that has such a huge affect on the work - when the majority of the team has been on the same page for so long, you have the luxury to get down to business right away, which gives everyone that much more time to dig all the deeper into the project at hand.  It's a great group of people and I'm grateful to be a part of this venerable Salt Lake fixture in the telling of such a moving and vital story.

Ken is a device in many ways.  He provides a way for the audience to see the many layers of this man who was famous for his self-isolation and seriousness in the way he worked and lived.  That said, I don't think it's an exaggeration to suppose that Red's audiences may get to know Rothko better than perhaps many who knew him in real life.  With Ken's presence in Rothko's studio, the audience gets a great look into his principles, frustrations, and passions; his id, ego, and super ego are all laid bare because Ken is there to draw them out in his queries, his challenges, his silence.  I can see how, given Rothko's solitude, John Logan may have chosen to make this man's story a one-man show, but Ken's presence allows Rothko to parry and lunge with the face of this new generation and with his own demons, sometimes in the same stroke.  What's more, as Ken is discovering who he is and developing his own principles through the show just as Rothko is fervently living by his, the audience gets to see the life of an artist come full circle, which adds the nice touch of a bigger picture.

Red has reminded me how important passion is when it comes to what we choose to spend our lives doing.  As someone who has enjoyed sampling from many walks of life (and prided himself on the fact), it's been refreshing to be around this man who put such a great deal of focus on one thing and had so much to stand for because of it.  In a time when seemingly endless, widespread distractions are becoming a more and more commonplace part of our lives, audiences would do well to see this man in action; Rothko fervently ensured that his life's choices and work had real meaning, and even the smallest dose of his zeal could spur even the most hard-hitting iPod-addled text fiends to stop and think about the roses.