A Year in Reflection/ Coming in January...

My play C U T enjoyed a very successful premier as part of Cold Snaps 2011, which ran at the WorkShop in December.

I'm now about to start rehearsals for Michael Schwartz's stage adaptation of Horatio Alger's SHIFTING FOR HIMSELF, which will run at 9th Space at PS 122 in late January.

I will also begin sending out a recently completed children's book, which I'm pretty proud of, entitled Halsey the Hippo's Special Day. This is a picture book written in rhyme, intended for children ages 5-10 (or thereabouts). The story centers around Halsey (a hippo) who wakes up feeling sad, and the absurd lengths he goes to to mask (literally) his sadness while on his way to work.

I've been most grateful for the creative opportunities that have come and ones I was also able to create in 2011. Among the highlights, I shot 3 web commercials for Phone.com as spokesman Max Boulevard (which you can view on the commercial reel of my website at www.danieldamiano.com). I also enjoyed the role of Damis in Tartuffe, directed by Charles Gerber, at the WorkShop and also got to play the plum role of Ira Stone in Schoolhouse Theatre's wonderful production of Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor up in Croton Falls. Judy and I's production entity fandango 4 productions co-produced a stellar 2 week run of 7 of my one-acts, The World is My Cheesecake, with Mind The Gap Theatre Company, which we hope to revive in 2013; this was one of the highlights of my life so far as an artist, and I continue to be grateful and appreciative to all the wonderful artists who contributed to Cheesecake's success. I also had some truly stellar readings of my plays The Dishonorable Discharge of Private Pitts and The Golden Year.

So another calendar year is about to come to a close, but in the end, it's each day that matters most. I very much look forward to what's ahead while trying my best to appreciate each day, the fact that I'm an artist and that there are some people interested in what I'm doing or will do down the road.

I will never take that for granted and am extremely thankful!

Have a wonderful, healthy and creatively prosperous year to come! See ya' soon, I hope.