“Coincidence takes a lot of planning.”

It’s a phrase I have heard quoted a lot lately. It is something said by the great Malcolm Nance, who is saying this recently in reference to politics and espionage. No, I am not a spy but more times that I think possible, my life as an actor overlaps with my zeal for politics and here is yet another. As I spend the last few weeks of February trying to get as prepped as I can in advance for the September 2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, AKA FringeArts, coincidence and planning are high in my mind and activities. Ok, mostly planning. Renting a space from afar for The Meatball Chronicles, trying to imagine seats and stage, thinking about projectors, lighting plots and parking, lining up a restaurant from across the Country, and pulling in all contacts “Philadelphia” is the planning part. Yesterday, I mention my endeavor now to go to Philly, still many months away, to a friend and she says “Oh, I have someone who can help you on the ground,” then, I look up Malcolm on google to make a clickable link on his name to his twitter feed (for those of you who don't know who he is) and my eyes widen when I notice that he is PHILLY based!! So I am seeing in plainly obvious ways, how planning and ‘coincidence’ overlap. But mostly, it’s planning that looks like coincidence. Now... apply that measure of thought to our current politics....