What It's Worth

I just want to say that for about a year and a half I have busted... my... ass... running this little community theater during a very turbulant time in it's history.  It has been anything but easy.  At every turn, another hurdle popped up to get in the way of achieving goals.  I have lost a lot of sleep in that year and a half to various things like stress, anxiety, and, well, needing the time to finish the job that needed to be done - like cleaning toliets or setting 120 chairs out for the next night.  I can't recall the last time I was in bed before midnight (midnight is a good night).  A nice chunk of my disposable income goes to little things the theater needs, like lightbulbs or ink pens.  Hell, my sanity probably checked out around March.

Through it all, the one thing that I thought was completely necessary to maintain was quality.  Producing good quality theater was all that mattered.  That's as it should be.  It's about the best danged art we can put on that stage.  The best show we can with the (little) money we got.  You got quality, you gain respect from your audience and build from there.

All the heartache, all the lost sleep, all the off-stage drama - doesn't matter.  The art - the quality, that's where it is.  That's what it's about.  That's what matters.

Today, this little community theater - more accurately, its productions and its casts & crews - that was expected to rollover and shut its doors received what I believe (if I counted right) to be the most Encore Award nominations it has ever received in the theater's entire history.

Granted, I don't place a lot of stock into these awards or nominations.  It's not why we do it.  The show comes first and if something is still Encore eligible, well that's gravy.  The creative process and the product are what drives me, not the nomination.

But, excuse me, if I say that I am very proud of the jump in quality this little community theater has made.  I am extremely proud to think back over the last season of success.  To remember the friendships made, the memories shared.  That's worth so much more than these awards and nominations...

Still, it feels like a nice redemption.  Thank you to all who made the past season of good... quality... theater possible.