Two bits and a shave

I was getting my haircut yesterday by a local barber in Harrisburg, a very nice guy (and cheap too, $12), and we were exchanging the usual banter. He discovered I was an actor and a served up this gem, “How did your parents handle it?” Okay, I know I look a few years younger than my age, but here I am, a guy in his mid forties, trying to think back to the days when any of that even mattered. For the record, my parents had a brief adjustment period (previously, I had intended to be a doctor) and then settled into unadulterated support. The only persistent question my father has raised is why the hell can’t a theatre make a profit. Aside from Broadway and Off Broadway this is true, and I have no idea why and I have no desire to discover the underlying economic dynamics. A little more off the top, please.