I love it when a plan comes together...

This weekend, I had a day-long party at my apartment. No one got shot, no one puked on the couch, and a good time was had by all. Big mess to clean up afterwards, but that's to be expected.

I'd been planning this party for a few weeks, and was almost worried that the nearly 200 people who were planning to show up would actually show. I think we had 60 people in the place, at the height of the party. Just right. In the early afternoon, I hosted a CD/DVD swap, in which I managed to get a few cool DVDs, and from which I have several leftover CDs that people just left (neat). Then, it was a pizza party, for which I'd spent hours earlier in the week prepping dough and ingredients, and from which about 20 excellent pizzas were born. Then it was a karaoke party, for which I'd also spent hours, culling through a few thousand songs for worthwhile stuff, and for which my voice was already completely gone by the time I busted out my scratchy version of Robbie Williams' "Let Me Entertain You".

Suffice it to say, I'm beat. Aside from a couple hours I'd managed to snag in naps, I was up for about 26 hours Saturday, a good portion of it running about playing host. While I hate that I didn't get to mingle as much as I'd've liked, I do love it when something I've put together goes off well. The party was successful, I managed to make some new friends, and it made for a nice weekend. I found a few people mentioning, "I hear you're in theatre," and I realized I'd not talked about that to anyone most of the night (this is a good thing; usually it's, "Say, stranger, tell me about yourself. Interesting... [question] [answer][question]. Oh, me? I do theatre, and [ramble, ramble, ramble]...") This time, I barely mentioned it all night, and whenever I did, it felt like a welcome burst of something new, not the obligatory party dialogue. I even got a few people interested in WiP and TM, so that makes me happy, too.

Funny thing, most people told me how "brave" it was of me to have so many people over. I didn't really think that was the word for it. I like company and making new friends.

I think a big part of what I love about producing theatre is the same feeling I get when a party has gone well. That sense that all the pieces were put in place just right, and now I can just watch things fall into place. I want more of that. Feels good. Feels real good.

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TM is finally prepping some new things. We're cleaning up some things from last year, and trying to choose what shows we'll work on this year. Henri and I had a short chat about TM stuff on Sunday (I had to skip WiP altogether- I was pretty much dead on my feet. Still am, really), and we got to talking about a sci-fi show I'd wanted to work on forever ago, but had no company to work with. It was too complex and involved to run in WiP, but upon further discussion, it seemed like he and I were on the same page. TM has to evolve, just like WiP has evolved, and if that means that some shows that are in the TM aesthetic get produced outside the WiP—>Showcase—>TM regular show process, then so be it. Henri mentioned wanting to work on some Commedia pieces with Cult of the Stage Monkey (his company), and how he'd been in touch with R. Kevin Doyle from Loose Screws in Hawaii (one of my favorite shows ever will always be their "Screwbuki". Artfully executed and damned fun.) about some elements they use in their shows. These are things I've wanted to incorporate into TM works, but haven't figured out how to make work. It's much more involved to work on Commedia than WiP has the scope to handle (right now, anyhow).

Things are evolving. I dropped my tech gigs, and now have time and freedom enough to get involved elsewhere. Yay, that.

This post has rambled. My eyes are blurry, and it's the middle of the day. I think I need to crash out when I get home, and not wake up again till Thursday.