Out of the Woods

Crests and troughs.  That's what life is all about, crests and troughs.  Like waves on the ocean, things happen for a fleeting moment, then disappear, leaving behind them fragmented pieces, both good and bad.  Since before May, we've been working on building the show we have been directing, "Into the Woods".  Talking with the set designer, with the costumer, with our production staff of music director and choreographer, and finally, in mid-May, we held auditions.  Since then, we've spent 4-6 nights a week in rehearsal and in production once the show finally began and now it's coming to a close.

It's rare in the theatre realm that 20+ people with a 40-year age range, with different personalities and backgrounds, can get along swimmingly for three months.  It's even more rare that they enjoy being together so much they go out after almost every show, regardless of how late it is or how exhausted they are or what has to happen the next day.  Never have I been involved in a production where this has happened, especially on such a large scale.  We directed this show because it was something we were passionate about, and it turns out that every single other person involved was, or became, just as passionate about it -- and each other -- as well.

Now we're going out of the woods.  Three more performances, one more party, a set to strike, and we're off to our separate parts of the state, "Back to life, back to sense, back to child, back to husband, no one lives in the woods!" as the Baker's Wife says.  But what a wonderful place to have spent so much time. 

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." --C. S. Lewis