So the last couple of weeks have been big. Life Is Good.

•My son started kindergarten. My daughter started 2nd grade. Wow. When did I get here? We’ve got a second grader and a kindergartener now. That’s amazing. They’re amazing. More amazing than I can do justice to in this little post.

•The Williamston Theatre Project has gotten bigger, more real, more on the move. Donations of stuff have been coming in; we now own a refrigerator, a fax machine, an answering machine, a tablesaw, nearly 100 lighting instruments, and have been told by one of our major donors that they will be buying a building, and leasing it to us for $1 a year, so that we have a permanent space. Amazing. Humbling.

•However – One of the biggest reasons that this month has been big: This week was the one year anniversary of having my full-time position at the Purple Rose Theatre Company ‘downsized’. As this anniversary approached, I’ve given the matter more thought than I had in some months.

It’s funny, when it happened I was, on many levels, ready for a change. I’d been in essentially one place for 12 years, and some other challenges were very welcome. New joys were waiting to be found, and familiar hassles were happily discarded – there were positives.

At the same time, to varying degrees, I felt frustrated, disappointed, hurt, betrayed, angry and scared. It’s the inevitable result, I suppose, of leaving a place that I’d called home, and that I think I helped to mold into its current successful form. Also, the simple fact remained – I truly liked my job, and many of my co-workers!

Intellectually I understood that budgets are budgets and when it’s time to batten down the hatches, that’s what you do. That’s what I’ll do if I need to as Artistic Director of WTP. Still, intellect and emotion are separate, (Thank God!), and those pieces of me that wanted to be hurt and negative were going to be that no matter how much the rest of me was excited to Try Something New. Thankfully, the Glass Half Full part of me is a good bit larger and louder than the other part, and the tiny negatives were wrestled with quietly and out of the way most of the time.

It’s funny, I’d known for a while that my position was vulnerable. Years ago I went to The Powers That Be and asked for a job change, and got it. I went from Resident Stage Manager (a vital position to any production and company) to Associate Artistic Director (a useful position if you can afford to have it). Simply put: I left my stable position willingly, and trained some wonderfully talented people to do that job. Then I stepped into a newly created position that I knew was a combination of many things: Useful For The Company, Currently Affordable, A Reward For My Work-To-Date, and yes, Expendable.

Why? I suppose that’s the question. However, even as I trained my own replacements, I didn’t think about it twice. The answer to “Why?” is “Because it’s what I had to do.” The change allowed me to go where I needed to go, learn what I had to learn. That’s all. There was no choice, really. My path was down another road, and I knew it.

So, that chosen path years ago led to a meeting, years later, that I had known all along was possible. A meeting where I was put forth on the next stage of my journey. This time, though, the path was around a bend that I couldn’t quite see yet – I knew what was SUPPOSED to be there, and where I WANTED it to lead, but for the first time in a while, it was a little unclear.

And for some time, this bothered me. Real life, after all, has a way of saying “Path schmath, are you paying your bills and feeding your kids?”

Thankfully, I happen to be married to one of the most wonderful human beings on the planet. She pushed, and prodded, and reminded, and waited patiently and was loud when she should’ve been and silent when it was most needed.

And here we are, a year later. And it’s been good.

How?
Let’s count the ways.

Starting last Fall, we got rid of most of our ‘daycare’. I spent a great deal of time being the ‘at home Dad’, and it was spectacular. My son and I hung out and got close in a way that will forever change our lives.

I had a year of being home with the whole family much more than my schedule had allowed before. One of the most frustrating things about my profession is that the hours are directly opposite what most ‘quality family time’ hours are. Not only did I spend more time with my wife and kids, but I decided that I must find a way to do this no matter what career I’m in.

I had a handful of revelations about friendships, how they come and go, and had a few strengthened tremendously.

I had a wonderful year, career-wise! Ironic, considering that I’d been “downsized” and lost my job, but it’s true:
Directed 3 Equity Productions (The Mystery of Irma Vep, Summer and Smoke, Take Me Out).
Directed 1 University Production (Broadway Bound).
Taught 2 semesters at Eastern Michigan University. Great, fun classes; Producing Theatre, Script Analysis, and Personal Management For The Artist.
Made huge headway, with 3 wonderful co-founders, in creating a new Regional Theatre in Williamston, Michigan. The Williamston Theatre Project is becoming more than a dream, it’s becoming a reality.
Directed 4 Staged Readings for WTP.
Directed a Collection of 10 Minute Plays for WTP.
Lined up work for next year: Along with continuing to move WTP forward, I will be directing Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol at The Performance Network in October/November of 2005, and in Spring of 2006 I will be going to Otterbein University as a Guest Artist to direct Leaving Iowa and possibly teach a workshop class.

So, it’s been quite a year…and Life Is Good.

Today I took my son to his first Kindergarten Class, and dropped off my daughter for her first day of Second Grade. I sent flowers to my wife’s classroom, as I have for many years, to celebrate her start of teaching another school-year. I paid the bills. I planned a WTP meeting for tomorrow. I had a meeting with the set designer of Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol. I came home from that meeting, and both kids jumped out of bed to hug and kiss me, and I tucked them in. I chatted with, and then tucked in, the beautiful wonderful woman I love. And I sat down in front of the computer and typed this journal entry.

Life Is Good.