Rick Hammerly recently posted a quote from the movie “Groundhog Day”: “What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?” — a question wholly unrelated to the pre-pandemic life led by the Helen Hayes Award-winning actor/director who was poised to tackle a busy year of exciting projects when COVID-19 hit town in March.
As jobs fell away, Hammerly’s first concern was finances. (“Holy shit! What do I do about money? Most of us theater folks aren’t swimming in cash.”) followed by a feeling of rudderlessness.
But as he budgeted a grant and unemployment checks, he began to look at things differently. Here was a rare opportunity to step away from round-the-clock work and spend