the smell of the greasepaint, the roar of the crowd

Here is the general stream of consciousness of a theater person when they are doing a show. “Why am I doing this? This is taking up way too much time. I have a job/school/life. I never see my friends/family/dog/child anymore. I haven’t eaten a decent meal in weeks. I’m not sleeping. This show is eating me alive. This director/actor/crew member is nuts/ psycho/insane. This show is gonna suck/rule. I hate this. I’m never doing a show again. That was so much fun. I can’t wait for the next one!”

Or something like that.

And with that I say – here we go again. If you are a reader of this blog from the beginning, you know that I used to do at least four or five local theater productions a year – whether as a performer, director, producer, crew member, whatever – I did it all, and all after working my regular full-time job at a performing arts center. After I had Jane, it was too hard to commit to three nights a week of rehearsal, and I’ve only done one show since she’s been born (although she did appear in-utero in Love Letters, starring myself and Alan).

Lately, have been dying to do a show again. It's always nice to take a break, especially when you're bouncing from one show to the next with no time in between, but after a few months, that little nagging "Igottadoashow" bug starts eating at your brain again. For me, it has to be totally worth it to cash in a couple of months of several nights a week out of the house. And here it is - this summer, I will be directing the musical Children of Eden for the summer group I have worked with for the past several years. I get to work with my core posse of theater peeps that I've been doing shows with for almost 20 years, which is awesome. The show goes up in July; auditions are next month.

So bring on the tears! Bring on the drama! Bring on the mom-guilt for not being around (albeit when she’s sleeping) three nights a week! I’m super-duper psyched.