the gathering.

And we're not little children
And we know what we want
And the future is certain
Give us time to work it out

- talking heads, road to nowhere

The fifteen month journey since the last time I stepped into my theatre as a creative entity and last night's audition session has been one fraught with life altering forward momentum and unexpected discovery. There is a beautiful correlation between the synthesis of the current fabric of my life at present and the organic manner in which I am approaching the new show's production.

I hadn't even read the play's script until after I had submitted it as my selection for the season. I scoured the web for plays, reading through or about hundreds of shows, honing my mind toward shows of specific cast size and offering certain key ingredients that I find key for nailing a show at this most intimate theatre space. Everything I was reading about the show, and the few pages I was able to see while I awaited my Amazon.com delivery held my interest, excited my instincts, and whet my creative appetites. The previous shows I directed had the security blanket of film versions. I never allowed my cast or myself to refer to them, but isn't it nice to have such an out?

This show allowed me a creative freefall, which is quite indicative of the distance I have come since putting together the last show, two years ago. All of the personal and professional growth that has transpired in that time leads me to undertake such weighty material. It's a very challenging show that finds the humorous gravity amidst deep held human viscera.

Since my last show, the theatre itself has been through a great transition in leadership and visually, as it heads toward the professional workplace I had always deemed it to be. My shows were often the anomaly for this reason, but now that the bar is moving in my direction, I am ready to step up my own game, if you will. It was truly invigorating to be back within its scarred, cobwebbed, whispering walls. Even more exciting was finally getting to share this second home with my girlfriend.

She and a few others were in attendance for the first night of auditions. There was a lot of lightness and humor in the air, and an excitement for plenty of things to come. I even had an unexpected visitor in a friend of mine who just dropped in to say hello, which is truly an unfortunate rarity these days.

Then like something out of 200 Cigarettes, the showing for actual auditioners was embodied by one unexpected soul, who is better known to commit blood, sweat, and tears to the other, far more funded, safe theatre. I have no idea what drove her to consider this show, but there we are: one audition down, one more to go. I can only hope that tonight proves more fruitful. It's an amazing show, whose backstage production value is coming together fluidly. I can only wish for some actors to embody this attractive skeletal structure we're assembling.