Is What It Is Productions

See That Building

Aug 15, 2002

WORKING opens tomorrow! After the last rehearsal I saw, are our audiences in for a treat! The music is catchy, the characters fun, and the cast is obviously having a ball onstage. That all makes for one great evening of theatre -- and, as you know, IWII's first musical!

Hot on the dancin' heels of that comes The Tragedy of King and Lady Macbeth, just in time for Halloween.

It's been a busy, busy time for everyone at IWII. There have been injuries, personal losses, misunderstandings -- and that's not counting the usual things going wrong (and right!) that eat up everyone's time. Despite all that, I am again struck by a couple of things:

First, there's the cast and crew who toil endlessly (or at least for a couple of months) to put on a show, and not ever see one red cent from it. That's dedication, folks.

Second, here's the thing: I've noticed that myself, our technical director, and our executive director -- and many others -- no matter how long the day, no matter how difficult a rehearsal or work day, still behave and speak as if there is no place they'd rather be. That our worst day of theater work still beats our best day working for a living in many ways. I myself have had a delightful series of bad moods and pairs of cranky pants on during the past couple of weeks, yet within a few minutes of being On Scene, so to speak, everything looks okay again. "It's a Zen thing," as Corky St. Clair has said.

That's why we do it, folks; because the people we are there WITH make it that much fun. And what we are DOING is itself a great time, filled with pride, joy and energy. You can't beat it.

For any of you actors keeping up with this soon-to-be-defunct newsletter (our NEW WEBSITE will be going up in October!!!), here's one last reminder that is hitting a little closer to home during this production:

You don't know what's happened that day to your audience. You don't know what kind of week they've had. What successes or failures, triumphs or sorrows. So what you do out there had better add to their happiness, or offer them a harbor from the real world they've left at the door. Give them that much, and your time, energy and sweat will have been well spent.

See you at the show! "Everyone should have something to point to."