Our last performance wasn't our best. I don't even think it came close to what we had done a number of times during the run. Lines were flubbed and dropped by all. The tech was a nightmare. The audience, while very full, just didn't seem in the mood to laugh.

I'm relieved that the show is over, but a little sad. I'm going to miss the cast terribly. Every once in awhile, you get together a group of people who mesh really well, and the cast of this show did just that. There are eight other actors with whom I'd never acted before and with whom I would happily share a stage in the future. Hopefully next time in a supporting role. A small one. One scene, perhaps.

It wasn't the perfect theater experience for me, but in a way, I'm glad for that. I learned a lot more with this show than I have on some others. Acting-wise, I got comfortable with the show enough to use such novel ideas as facial expressions and different tones of voice. I certainly felt more comfortable in my own skin, though that's an overall effect I've felt over the past year or so.

As a writer, I was inspired to start on a new script, simply based on a person I met. I remembered what it was like to make people laugh at a turn of phrase, and how the unexpected can be funny or touching when it doesn't look that way on paper.

As a director, I was reminded to always treat my actors with respect. To ask questions, and give reasons why I make the choices I do.

And as a person, I re-learned how good it feels to get to know people and to work towards a common goal. There was not one single person in the cast I didn't like, and some of them will have to work very hard to get rid of me, because I found the beginnings of friendships that I hope will carry on beyond this show and beyond the theater in general.

In the end, the good outweighed the bad, which is generally the case in most endeavors. I went in without knowing anything about the script or anybody involved with the production. Now I have another role on my resume, a bunch of people I like, and a little more insight into myself and others. I don't think there's anything more one can ask of an experience than that.

The perennial question during college is, "What is your major?" In theater, I've found, that question is, "What are you working on?"

I have three theater projects to which I have already committed. Next weekend, I'm part of the crew for Three Days of Rain at the EMACT festival. It's a much shorter festival than the ones I was involved in years ago. Back then, close to twenty theaters competed over the course of three or four days. Now it's down to seven theaters competing in one day. There are no finalists, there's no showdown of four shows to be presented to an adjudicator, just the shows and then the awards. It's been this way for at least a year, and I have no idea what the experience is going to be like. I think it'll be fun; I always like to see shows and I'm bound to know a good number of people there.

Next, I travel to North Carolina for the 10X10 Festival, in which Hit Me is being performed (and directed by TeKay!). They are holding a question and answer session with the playwrights on the Saturday of the festival, which could be quite interesting. I can't imagine what questions there would be about this play except, "Do you just have a thing for guys beating the shit out of one another?"

Considering this play has been chosen for three different festivals and never directed by me, I think it's probably my most successful script. Clerestory was produced five times, but I directed it twice and Kymm directed it twice, so I sort of count that differently. (Not that Kymm doesn't count, it's just that she read the play when I wrote it online, so it wasn't a "blind" choice.)

After that, I'll be doing costumes for my friend Chris' production of The Odd Couple. He's setting it in the 60s (as is appropriate), which makes it really fun to consider. I wish there were more women's roles in it, since men aren't as much fun to dress, but the difference between Felix and Oscar is going to be a nice challenge.

During all this, I hope to finish the Mike/Will play (I have to stop thinking of it in those terms, but really, if I do a staged reading of this, they're the ones I'm going to cast, if they're both willing) and to complete the one-man show I've been tinkering with for awhile. Hopefully, both will be complete by fall, and I can direct one and find a director for the other, and be on my way.

There's also the slew of festivals and calls for scripts that are year-round. I have to learn to recycle my plays; it's not like short stories where the rights are bought for one publication. The same show can be in several festivals. In fact, if the same show wasn't able to be performed in more than one venue, playwrights would never make any money.

I'm so glad I gained the opportunity to step back into theater. I've missed it a whole lot, and now I remember just how much I want it to be part of my life.

Since it still is a part of my life, in less than eight hours no less, I might as well wrap this up.