So, catching up, we’ve opened Every Christmas Story Ever Told!!, and the first weekend has been a great success. 5 near-to-sold-out houses, riotous laughter, a few standing ovations.

No reviews yet, but I’m not overly concerned about them. They’re normally useful to help sell tickets, but this is such a short run and the word of mouth from the first week is so good that 2 of our 5 remaining performances are already sold out, and it looks like we’ll come close with the rest, if not sell them all out.

Not bragging, of course. Thrilled. But also fascinated.

There have been a lot of interesting lessons with this show, as well as several interesting topics of discussion raised. Now that it’s open (but not not done – I get to restage it for another couple of performance spaces over the next few weeks), I’m getting a chance to reflect a little on the process and end results of this project.

I’ll be recording those thoughts here, and possibly on the Williamston Theatre Rehearsal Blog. It’ll be useful to help sort out the lessons in my head by putting them down…well, not exactly on paper but…getting them out of my head into some semblance of order.

Tonight, though, for fun, 2 things:

1) Here’s a link to a nice article about us and the show from the Lansing State Journal. (I’ll try and post reviews later, if/when they come out.) (And if they’re not completely slamming us – who wants to read all that negativity?! *laughing*)

2) The real reason for my post tonight: Leaving the theatre this afternoon was an amazing thing.

I had to leave a little early, and I’d just been in my office working and listening to the matinee through the monitor speaker. 82 of our 88 seats were sold, which is a record house for us. And the people were loving it. I tried to get out of the building right after intermission, (to get back home – family duties), but different little delays kept me there until the final seconds of the show. Since I was there, I couldn’t help but stand in the lobby and listen to a tremendous amount of applause during the curtain call, with patrons hooting and hollering. Only one of the actors, Aral, comes through the lobby after the show; I high-fived him as he exited the theatre and joggged through the lobby to the dressing rooms upstairs, sweating from the workout of the show. Then, listening to the buzz of a happy crowd, I beelined for the door and made my way to my car a block away. By the time I’d gotten my briefcase in, seatbelted myself in and started the car, the people were exiting our building.

And they were smiling.

And laughing. And chatting. I had to stop my car at the stop sign and wait for a half dozen people to cross, and they were clutching programs and talking happily and gesturing animatedly back and forth. People were streaming from our little building, and they were walking to their cars, clearly in good moods. Some were headed back towards downtown where, I imagined and hoped, they were going to the coffee shop or the restaurants.

As I watched this happening, I sat at the stop sign far longer than necessary, and I had one of the best moments I’ve had in recent memory. There was a sense of pride, accomplishment, and love, for what we’d done. In creating a place for this to happen, in bringing this place to life, but also…something even more specific.

I love what I do. Sometimes, in the hustle and pressure and day-to-day slamming-against-the-wall that is real life, you lose track. You lose track of some of the what and the why.

Today, I was reminded. God, do I love making people laugh. And cry, and gasp, and forget to breathe, and slap their knees and grab their head or their partner. I love giving them something to talk about for a while after we’ve done our work – not just because they can talk about it, but because they want to, they have to, because it moved them so much. It’s all about moving people. Sometimes it’s with subtle, nuance-y human comedies, sometimes it’s with deep painful dramatic material, and sometimes it’s with plain ol’ fashioned silliness. Sometimes, to be honest, I’m not sure what it is, but I know when it feels right in rehearsal.

And today I was reminded. After working for a couple of weeks with 3 great actors, some great crew and designers, we had a great weekend of moving people.

And as I finally pulled away from the stop sign, and left the smiling crowd in the rearview mirror, I knew that soon the work would begin again on the next project, where we would try it all again.

But today…today as I drove away, I smiled and thought…Got ’em!