Eternal Bliss In The Darkness

Yesterday was exhausting but blissful; it was so fun to get back into the theater and work again. I had an amazing support crew of Katie and Kelly who worked tirelessly from 10:00 in the morning until 8:00 in the evening. When I first walked into the theater I must admit I was a bit overwhelmed because I have been away from this type of work for so long. We quickly moved, hung, and circuited lights and had everything focused in about two hours. The place was a flurry of activity; putting set pieces together, painting, and transforming the space into an amazing little show place. Bill showed up from New York about 1:00 and we placed the set pieces and checked the range of his movement throughout the show. After he left my crew spent a couple of hours writing the cues, which seem to go very fast for a 53-cue show. It all just came flooding back to me. I totally felt so at home in this dark space. It’s great every once in a while to step back to something in our lives that we were once passionate about. And this show I am very passionate about. With a lot of adaptation it came together so beautifully, the space is very limited, with very limited equipment and I used it all to its maximum capacity. I was really able to maintain the feel and flow of the original production of the Rattlestick Theater in New York. This is a beautiful production of the soul. Bill bears all and exposes his remarkable life as an artist and the light really helps to define and refine that journey. It’s almost like it’s a movement though his subconscious and so you have the take an audience on that voyage. Very little was compromised. Wow what a feeling to be back in touch with such powerful feelings. At 5 we all gathered with Bill and ran the show cue to cue for the stage, manager and lighting operator to put it together. Again I had put together such a good prompt script, (production road map), that they were right on first attempt with many cues. I just needed to tweak lighting levels and looks and adjust timing for the difficult sequence. After about 2 and a half hours the show was completely up and ready to open tonight. Back the studio Glenn made a homemade Pizza and Bill and I sat there blurry eyed from exhaustion ready for bed.

One of the things I was aware of though out the day was how amazing these folks in the Montana Actor’s Theater group are. They are such a dedicated group of people who work in such harmony together. The space was filled with a flurry of people in and out, solving issues and problems. They are so filled with absolute love and commitment in their hearts to pursue something they are utterly passionate about. It becomes infectious to everyone entering the space. It was a beautiful Easter Sunday afternoon outside and yet we all worked in this dark space completely oblivious to everything else. In the darkened theater time completely seems stands still. It is a world where you are drawn deeper into the subconscious of the process. I used to also get this feeling when I worked in the darkroom, but then I was in total isolation. I got away from the theater many years back because I was tired of the collaboration and wanted to create something that was of my own expression. Photography was the perfect segue into that self-expression. But yesterday I was overwhelmed by the collaboration and that sense of community. It brought back such feelings of joy and pleasure to bond so tightly with others so quickly. It is such a unique experience that I know now I somehow want to become involved with that world again. I realized how isolated my life has become as a photographic artist rarely leaving my studio, most of my communication through the internet. This one little day in the theater made me feel so alive and vibrant and it reminded of the beautiful bounty of my extraordinary life. It was a perfect Easter celebration for me. Rebecca the director of this group told me a couple of days ago when I realized we would be spending our Easter on this process “this is our religion”. Please come see this beautiful show It Goes Without Saying because, you the audience, is the next step in the evolution of feeling this infectious process of discovery. Thanks Montana Actor’s Theater for allowing me another extraordinary day of bliss as I connect to this journey of my inner artist.

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