Friday, January 4, 2008

Opening Night

My play opened last night. And it went really well. The whole evening was comprised of six new works by female playwrights, all female cast, all female directors. It was a full house. It was so exciting, I was pretty nervous. I wanted my cast to do well, and let's face it, if they do well, I look good. I discovered in the event's publicity in our national newspaper that though I was directing this year, my performance was mentioned from last year as "stunning". (You know I passed that little tidbit on to my agent, who didn't actually come to see me perform.) You know I grabbed two copies of that. When I came home from tech rehearsal, my hubby had flowers in a vase and had framed the article from the paper for me. It gets even better. A producer friend of mine brought a woman who runs a workshop for burgeoning female directors and she liked my work! Yay! I remembered when I applied to her workshop as an actor and a director years ago and I didn't get in and I was devastated. And now she's asking for my card.

It was such a great night, my actors were grounded and solid in their performances, everyone was so encouraging and positive vibes were flowing. We even took my mum who made it through the evening (barely). She can get quite restless and agitated. I know it's difficult for her to sit that long, but she was so proud of me. It meant a lot to me that she was there. I want to share as much of my life with her as I can, particularly my artistic endeavours, but I know it's not easy on her. My mother was a singer, but she never really started to perform until late in her life. And when my father left, she started to try to have a career of her own, singing in clubs, community centres, Canada Day events, wherever she could. She even sang at my wedding. I wonder what she could have accomplished if she had not had such a difficult life.

Anyways, last night made up for the 0.8 lbs I gained in two weeks during the holidays. Damn those delicious sugar cookies and copious amount of wine! I tried to keep up my workout schedule, but as fate would have it, my spinning instructor's father suffered a stroke and went into a coma and when I went in, we ended up having a chat. I know what it's like to watch your parent suffer, you always think they're going to be around, always going to be strong. Her father passed away a few days ago, and whenever I see her next, I hope that I can say something useful. I must remember to bring a card.

The weather is hellish but the dog awaits.

6 comments:

Lori Lavender Luz said...

That's terrific! I'm very proud of you, too, DS.

Any chance you'd give us a synopsis on what your play is about?

Deathstar said...

It's not a published play so I shouldn't mention the title, but it's about a group of friends at a wedding shower and they each have their own little dramas to deal with.

KarenO said...

Aaah congratulations! I hope this is showing that 2008 is going to be YOUR year! :)

OHN said...

The description sounds like something I would very much like to see. It sounds to me like life has stopped kicking your ass for the time being! :) I am sure it feels great.

loribeth said...

Ahh, I went looking in what I thought was the right newspaper, but couldn't find anything. Will look some more with your further hints! ; ) Congratulations!

Pamela T. said...

Stunning!? Does it get much better than that? Wow. I hope you're still walking on air. You should be! Given the powerful and memorable way that you express yourself in writing, I can only guess at the results you can elicit as director. Wish I'd been there to experience it firsthand...congrats!