Tomorrow
I arrived in Richardson tonight with more stress than was necessary. Growing up in Texas they used to say if you don't like the weather wait for 24 hours and it will change. It seems that the cold weather and snow experienced recently in the Metroplex has proven this old yard to be false. I woke up with the sun shining in LA but my thoughts on the snow that was falling in Dallas. Immediately my flight from Burbank was delayed and the flight before mine to Dallas was cancelled. John Ivy's flight from New York was cancelled. Suddenly all plans were changed and the game plan became ad-lib. It was no longer a matter of just doing the show it was a matter of actually making it half way across the country in bad weather to do the show.
John Ivy has been with my show since the Atanlatic Theatre off Broadway. He is the one who has the sound cues, lighting plot and the stage set up. All I do is perform the show. For the entire flight to DFW I considered what kind of show it would be if John became stranded in New York. It would not be the show that I would want to perform as a home coming to my roots.
But when I landed I found out that John had grabbed another flight and beat me here by an hour. We connected at the airport and made our way to the hotel, which is 20 yards from the entrance to the Eisemann Center. All my anxt was defused and the stress of not being prepared to do a show was immediately replaced by the stress of actually doing the show.
Tomorrow will be a full day of settiing up, prepping and performing in a new space, followed by meet and greets with the sponsors and VIPs who will be at the first performance. At this point it seems impossible that it could happen in 24 hours. That is the magic and the illusion of the theatre and no one can really explain how it happens but it does. This living on the edge is the drug that keeps us all addicted.
All I know is, I am excited to be on the stage opening tomorrow. I love to do this show more than any other performance that I get to do. I know that it will go too fast and there won't be time to relish the details and savor the moment. I guess that is why we artists keep looking for more moments to relish. More Later.
As you were,
Jay