377 days, blog #130 or a community theater post

And so it begins.  I had the first round of auditions for Almost, Maine tonight.  I don’t want to go to bed.   Now, mind you, on Friday I went to bed at ten… and that was forcing myself to not fall asleep earlier.  And last night would have been the same had I not realized I failed to write my blog.  Basically, I’ve become a rural homebody who likes to hibernate in the winter.

Guess that habit is about to come to an abrupt halt.  Then again, that’s kind of the reason I decided to do this.  Because, clearly, I really don’t treasure the whole sleep thing.

Community theater is a weird choice when you really think about it.  It’s basically signing up to not sleep.  To agonize over learning lines.  Or building a set.  Or getting all the pieces together for opening night.  Or having a rehearsal when the whole cast can be there.  And then when you are there… you go to such dark or crazy or silly places.  I mean… really… where else but community theater can you find an Alice in Wonderland theme in a Sam Shepard play about incest while running sound effects?  

But where else can you meet a whole crowd of people with whom you have instantaneous kinship?  Just tonight, I had conversations with friends new and old with whom I shared dozens of memories.  Something about being in that theater space, with all its dust and shadows, talking to my fellow thespians made the 90’s come into clear view.  Things… and people… of whom I have not thought for a long while were suddenly an absence I felt – but only because I felt the joy of those times we spent on that stage or waiting behind the flats.

Well, it is late-ish… so I won’t think too much about this tonight.  But, I’m glad we’ve started off on the right foot.  A really talented group of actors showed up tonight.  Fun conversation with my fellow production staff.  And a lot of ideas that keep my brain whirling.