New projects for old! New projects...

Last fall, Skate and I decided that we should start a theater company. Wipe that smirk off your face and know that we were shoved into it headfirst by Fate, or else neither of us would have ever stopped laughing long enough to actually try it. We were talking about the things we would love to do or see done theater-wise, and someone (I forget which of us--there was beer involved) said, 'we should just start our own theater company'. To which both of us laughed out loud.

See, for those of you who aren't in that crazy little industry, this is an incredibly common occurrence. It shakes out like this: some actors, fed up with their current group of folks because of artistic stagnation or personality conflict, decide They Can Do Better, and they start their own company. Things are usually fine for about a year, then they can either go one of two paths: they crash because of personality conflict or mismanagement, or they succeed and move up to the next tier in the food chain.

We figured, with her pending Master's degree in Arts Management and my experience managing teams, that we might be able to avoid that death knell. Her desire to do something worthwhile and inspiring, and my overactive manic-depressive imagination both seemed to lend themselves to the artistic side of the endeavor. And the stuff we wanted to do didn't fit with any of the local theater companies, so we didn't think ourselves too proud and conflictatory (new word for you there, W) in our dream, either.

We pulled the trigger, and here we are. Last night found us meeting with a group of actors from the area to discuss a crazy new project we are spearheading for the fall. I will keep you updated, but let me just say it was a great meeting, very insightful, very exciting, and I have the Utmost Confidence in the Mission. Stay tuned...