ONe Month down

Well folks,

today marks one full month since my departure from Vancouver. I can't believe its only been one month, it feels MUCH longer...

So to celebrate, I'm trying to get out of town for a couple of days, visit friends in Van, eat some sushi, play some video games, sleep in my own bed. *sigh* If I can extradite myself from the drama then I plan to get on a bus after tonight's show. We may be loosing a cast member for a couple of days because of a family emergency; so its possible that I'll have to stick around to get the understudy show ready to run. I hope not, I hope we don't need to, for everyone's sake.

I find it surprising how accommodating I am when it comes to my colleague's personal lives. When people are legitimately tired, or sick, or grief stricken, I really do adjust work responsibilities around their needs. And I do it without resentment and without thinking that they should check their personal lives at the door.

I had a director tell me that once.

That professionalism in the theatre meant checking your personal baggage at the door.

I believe I've really taken that to heart. I might take that too far sometimes.

What's the difference between 'life happening' and 'personal baggage'?

I've worked with creeps without thinking to tell someone. I've worked through illness, injury, fatigue. I've missed funerals, family events, I'll be missing weddings.

...

I literally just got interrupted by buddy freaking out about 'the show must go on!!!' that was a fun conversation.

.....

So when does the show NOT go on? Why do we break our backs and our psyches for THE SHOW. Why have I boughten into that philosophy so completely and at such personal cost? Yes, theatre is a different animal than other jobs. Yes, it is a team sport. But at some point our lives have to matter more than the show.

I think its easy for me to believe that other people's lives matter more than the show, but not so easy for me to believe that about my own. I think there is a lesson there.