Jesse JanzenDylan Ballestero | There is a saying: "Everything happens for a reason." Every time I hear someone say that, it evokes in me a powerful urge to punch that person repeatedly. Mainly this is because they are using it to indicate some kind of mystical involvement in the situation at hand: God, fate, destiny, Murphy's Law, the Universe..... The thing is, yes, Everything does happen for a reason. They're called choices. We make them. All the time. This leads me to my second least favorite phrase " I didn't have a choice." Yes, you do. The choices at hand just maybe aren't very palatable so the correct phrase is actually "I didn't have a choice I liked, a positive one that would give me what I wanted so I did this." Whatever "this" is.... Sometimes that simply means doing nothing, which is still doing something. You have choice A and B and neither are ones you think you want so you do option C, which is to walk away, in essence "do nothing." Over the past two months, I have been faced with many choices, mostly ones I didn't ask to be put in a position to make but were brought on by choices I had made in the past leading up to the current moment as well as the choices made by those around me. These led to moments of advice from friends like "Everything happens for a reason. " Or "You didn't have a choice." At every turn, I have had a choice, and I have made them to the best of my ability and I did not walk away from any of them. It's led to me walking a very fine line between being just stupid or just incredibly determined. I believe it's a little of both. Every encounter on this road to getting this particular show off the ground has led to something ultimately productive in the end. It's led to some great script revisions, some interesting learning moments, reminders, and life lessons. Mostly, it's shown me that I am right: Everything does happen for a reason - the choices I have made along with everyone else involved has had led to this moment. So thank you to everyone, even if I wanted to punch you for the choices you made. And still want to punch you for them. :) I say with great big smiles a huge welcome to Jesse Janzen to the cast of These Lonesome Roads for the role of Brint. And to Dylan Ballestero, our lighting designer and tech for the show! Audiences will love you both for what you bring to this upcoming hit show! We went through our first full cast read through this past Saturday and I saw the makings of said hit show on our hands. As the weeks continue, we will be working with original music by Amy Kelly for the show, as well as Petra Van De Hey who plays the aspiring Nashville singer, Kaycee. I look forward to the development of the music and watching the characters truly come to life. And now, on to the next set of choices that can hopefully keep me on a road to somewhere amazing! |