Today there are a fewer tomorrows

Okay, Christmas is over and New Years is right there days away. This is a tough week for lots of people. You get that after Christmas funk combined with the whole reflections of the past year thing going and…well.

I got a jump on most of you. I started the whole reflections thing about 6 months ago. It is one of the few times I have been ahead of any holiday in my life! Mine started a few days after Rwanda…I went to Africa this past year, Kenya, Rwanda some time in Amsterdam as well. It was the night after I saw the gorillas and was just lying there and it suddenly became very clear to me that, at that very moment, there were fewer tomorrows. And guess what? The next day it occurred to me that it was again true and would be true every day after. Today, there are fewer tomorrows!

That’s it. That’s the whole gig. I don’t mean realizing that there are fewer tomorrows but recognizing the fact that there are fewer tomorrows and knowing you had better do something about it! NOW!

Within days of returning from Africa I announced I was leaving the Legacy Theatre. My company, Asylum Entertainment, had been is residence there for three years. THREE YEARS! In this business you don’t decide on a whim to leave an ongoing and successful theatre. Some people wold call that insane. Even more so when you consider that 3 years earlier I had split form the Kean Theatre in a very bad and ugly breakup. Divorce can be so messy…especially when one of the partners is a backstabbing, greedy, conniving fuck that is to stupid to see what they had was exceptional. You can decide who was who.

But, there were fewer tomorrows.

I have been blessed to spend most of my adult life earning a living in theatre and film. It’s what I do, my profession. I know that is very special since I know a ton of very talented people who juggle jobs and spend all their nights and free time in this industry for nothing more than the applause. They love theatre, its who they are and they could care less about money! For a long time I was one of them. Pittsburgh Lab, Fine Line, Iron Clad Agreement and a dozen or so other theatre companies is where I spent all my nights. I loved it.

Then it became a job. About 30 years back I opened the Holiday House Dinner Theatre. In rapid succession there was the Market Square Dinner Theatre, Bobby Nicholas Supper Club, Kean Theatre and Legacy Theatre. In that span I produced and/or directed over 200 plays and musicals. And that was with taking 10 years off to take over and run a family business and get my daughter through school.

I wasn’t really counting the tomorrows back then…there were still so many of them.

It’s funny but all plays are not created equal, I’m not taking quality here. It comes down to perspective. When you start to schedule plays for audience appeal, production cost, box office results and bottom line you are in a brand new place. Artistic integrity takes a hit. I served as Artistic and Managing Director for 5 theatre’s. Inevitably, the Managing Director would win all arguments with the Artistic Director regarding how the theatre would be run. Why? Because he had to sit down with the Board of Directors or the Owner or the Executives and explain all of his decisions.

And the tomorrows became fewer and fewer.

After Africa I took a look at all of this. I had a movie that was started but not completed for a year because I was to busy with theatre. I had not written a single useable sentence in over a year. I had video and television projects backing up because there was no time. And most importantly, my passion for the theatre I was producing and directing was fading. I didn’t want this…

And there were fewer and fewer tomorrows.

So, here we go. A new year is ready to pounce and for the first time in 14 years I do not have a play in rehearsal or a theatrical schedule looming. Should I be panicked? Worried? Concerned? I’m not because I am now getting back to what drove me in the beginning. I’m doing things that I am passionate about. Things that not only interest me but demand my attention and dedication. I am not worried about the lack of tomorrows because I intend to try to use up every one of them.

My wish and hope for all is they realize this way before I did and start to do something about it. Recognize that we are all given so few tomorrows and doing anything that ignores that fact is a waste of time

Hope to see you all tomorrow.