I don't really know what this means, but more than one person has said it to me. In fact, even I have trouble remembering myself as a young boy. But I know I didn't always speak in the baritone that I do now. I was once a child. And while I'll never be one again, I briefly felt like one while writing The Bone Wars.
I didn't have many toys growing up, but I did have dinosaurs--an awesome T-Rex and a pretty sweet Brontosaurus. I think there was a Triceratops in the mix too. Boy, did we have some crazy adventures! I even had an awesome book called Patrick's Dinosaurs--how frickin' cool! I couldn't believe there was a book that not only had my name as part of the title, but was ALSO about dinosaurs. Life was complete.
Yet, I grew up too quickly. Hollywood was calling, or at least the local community theatre was, and I had myself some musicals to be in. That's right. When I was nine I was a triple threat. I acted, I danced (4 years tap--oh yes!), and I believed that I could sing. While Jordan was winning NBA Championships, Link was making a name for himself in local musical theatre. And I was very, very serious about it.
But, again, I grew up too quicky. When I was 15, I "didn't want to pretend anymore." So I put these musicals away in the dark closet of my soul, right next to Patrick's Dinosaurs. I locked the key. Never to return.
Until I started writing a musical about dinosaurs with Eric March and Jeff Bienstock--a musical you can experience for the first time ever on Wednesday, June 22 at 8:30pm on the 2nd floor of EST. The Bone Wars is a musical adventure about two leading paleontolgists of the 1880s and their conflicting ambitions. It's also about fame, survival, and science!
But for me (and maybe just me) it's about other things, too. Like finding fossils not just in the ground, but in the caverns of your mind; fossils that form the child you once were--a strange distant creature that once ruled the earth.
The Bone Wars
Music and Lyrics by Eric March and Jeff Bienstock
Book by Patrick Link
Wednesday, June 22 at 8:30PM
Directed by RJ Tolan
Featuring Chris Hoch, Anthony Holds, Sarah Corey, Joel Rooks, Catherine Jones, Josh Davidson, Lance Rubin, Aaron Phillips, Steven Boyer, John Bennett, Shawn Randall, Matthew Baldiga, and Nate Weida.
FREE
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3 comments:
PATRICK LINK CAN TAP DANCE?
That's it. Youngblood talent show fundraiser. We're doing this.
1st grade through 4th grade. I was so horrible. There was actually a blind kid in class with me my first year and he was way better than me. He couldn't even see what people were doing!
This is a truly spectacular Blogging Bloodworks. Well done, sir.
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