Oh, Hello!

Today, on Thanksgiving Eve, These Gentlemen give thanks for new members. We also give thanks that said new members have been so patient, for in the haze of work, school, and holidays, we have not yet given them their due: the Introduction.

Alex Keiper - Alex is an actress and freelance costume worker in the world of D.C. theatre who is currently rehearsing the role of Emilie for Greenbelt Arts Center's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Alex escaped to the University of Maryland in College Park from the small town of Piqua, Ohio, where she was an avid dancer and show choir participant. She spent a year in New York City after graduation pursuing work in art galleries and theatres, but finding the job climate less than favorable, has moved back to D.C. to try her hand in the District, working toward her certification as a yoga instructor in the meantime. She brings to the Gentlemen a degree in art history and a fabulous fashion sense (including an unparalleled love for corsets and handkerchiefs).

Brett Abelman - Born and raised in the D.C. suburbs (mostly in Gaithersburg), Brett is also a University of Maryland grad, holding degrees in theatre and English, the job market's enemies. Currently a Gentleman of Leisure, Brett spends most of his time pursuing his passion: creative writing. Focusing mostly on plays (his play "The Old Man of the Sea of Stories" recently won the Audience Choice Award for Rorschach Theater's Myth Appropriation series) and some prose fiction, he hopes one day to write for video games, as he sees the medium as the storytelling of the future. Futurism and speculative fiction are also topics he hopes to tackle here at These Gentlemen, and he looks forward to playing devil's advocate to our arguments. You can also read more of his work in his story-a-day blog, http://larondeinfinite.blogspot.com/

We look forward to hearing Alex and Brett's fresh voices on the blog, and thank them for waiting for us to get on the ball. We hope that their addition will lead to a resurgence of spirited and sustained discourse, only on These Gentlemen.