And We're Off!
Looking back to last week, so many great moments come to mind. The ride back to Sacramento was pretty hot, and the oil pumps just on the north side of the Grapevine stood out like sentinels in the sun, but thankfully the trip was uneventful compared to the ride down. It was full of fun conversation and music and laughs with Petra, and l learned how little I've done in my life listening to this young woman next to me tell story after story, that weren't ever told like an anecdote, but simply moments in her life. By the time I'd gotten Petra safely back to her home and finally hit my own driveway, I was completely done in. Weeks of worry and stress and wondering if what I do is even worth anything, I was rewarded with two actors who are more than committed to the play, their characters, and the story. A sigh of relief escaped me followed by an hour of unpacking my car like a zombie who cared nothing for anything but the oblivion of sleep. I think Cricket agreed. Over the past months, the pressure of running my own company has landed hard. It's funny to be working on a play titled These Lonesome Roads when that's what I feel like I've been on for a long time. When you're in charge, of everything, there are definitive pros and cons that are strangely the same thing. Pro: I make all the decisions Con: I make all the decisions It's this polarization that can get to be too much at times, so getting to work with Petra and Daniel, to have collaboration again was a breath of fresh air last week. During rehearsal our first night, Petra serenaded Daniel in the most delightfully comic way with the title song from the show. This is what I love with actors, when they let down their guard and are just silly and in the moment and enjoy getting to know each other. During our second rehearsal at Daniel's home, he returned the favor by learning how to dance. Now you're all thinking this might be a musical! Maybe it is... You'll have to show up to find out, now won't you? In our third rehearsal, the characters really started to settle in. We met up at my home, The NoHo Arts Center on Lankershim and Magnolia in North Hollywood. It was most likely the last time I will ever see that stage, seeing as how Theatre 68 has a new home at the old Antaeus West Theatre around the corner! Seeing Daniel and Petra work on that stage, I could feel the nostalgia creeping in and the odd synchronicity of life. Roads is about, in part, a young man who has become dependent on alcohol to erase the issues he doesn't want to confront. Theatre 68 just closed it's star production of Bill W and Dr. Bob, the two men who created AA. That show was the first one I ever was part of behind the scenes in 2007 when I first joined Theatre 68. I jumped in to run sound for the show at that time. It was a play that taught me what theatre was all about in so many ways. And now, here I am, producing, directing, taking the lead in helping others speak their stories, all on my own. This has been a lonesome road in many ways for me, the road to running a small creative business. Along the way I have met amazing people, though. People who impacted my life whether they know it or not, and changed my viewpoint or connection to the greater world. Yet it seems that somehow, all of us end up fighting to be heard with our creativity on our own. Maybe that is because we are each such a unique voice, and as such, no one else can speak it but you. Yet, the contradiction is right in front of me. Without the story to be told and the actors to tell it, I would have no team to give voice to anything. The pro and the con. :) But enough of that, let's get on with the show! The next set of rehearsals bring the whole cast together for the first time this week and I'm excited to see it all come together! Want to know why Petra and Daniel had to learn to sing and dance? Well, come see the show opening August 16th at the Ooley Theatre, 2007 28th, 8pm. $15 General Admission. www.emhpros.weebly.com See you there! E |