We spoke with Dan and Britt this week. It had been a while, too long a while. The biggest topic of discussion was Dan’s current gig. The actor’s strike has put him out of work for most of the year, but during the strike, a friend in theater reached out to him and offered him a job. Not subject to Screen Actors Guild picket lines, this opportunity was a godsend. His worksite is located somewhere in lower Manhattan, where he is building the set for a new play that has not opened yet. There is already quite the buzz about this show and its security is tight. One day, a fan even snuck onto the set. Dan has signed a nondisclosure agreement and in case he inadvertently disclosed something that he should not have, I will speak of it no more.

This new production is the successor to the play Sleep No More. An immersive theater production that debuted in 2011 and is still being performed on W 27th St. There we find a warehouse that houses the set for the mythic McKittrick Hotel. This mammoth six story, one hundred room set is the playground for a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s MacBeth. As immersive theater, the cast and audience are allowed to intermingle and are free to travel throughout the “hotel”. The audience is required to be masked. Originally, the pictured Venetian Carnival style masks were used, but after the pandemic, those were replaced with a Phantom of the Opera style mask that facilitated the addition of a KN95. 

What struck me most during our phone conversation was how exuberant Dan was about this work. He has never expressed such enthusiasm with regard to his union job. The sole thing that he liked about that work was its money. He gushed to us over the camaraderie between him and his fellow carpenters. Alas as with any job in the gig economy, this one is only temporary and his involvement with it might end by Christmas, but until then the show must go on.