good things
I'm still coming down off the emotional roller coaster that was Meta.
Ultimately, it was an amazing show, and I am so proud of the work we did, and so humbled by the lengths that my artists went to to make this show happen, and so blown away by the passionate response that everyone seems to have for it.
It is the best piece of art I have ever made.
I was never really able to publicly say WHY this show was the way it was. Why it spoke to me so profoundly, why I poured every ounce of my artistic being and leadership into it. (Of course, I'm not telling YOU GUYS anything you don't already know).
The best I could do was those program notes.
Love, Transformation and Coming Home
Ancient myths are really not about someone going out but someone trying to get home, like Odysseus coming back from exile. It’s the story of being taken away from where we think our home is; it’s like being taken from ourselves. This play depicts many different journeys home. Sometimes, home is not where it was originally expected. Sometimes, it’s a long and arduous journey. Sometimes, we have only the memory of home and wholeness. But ultimately, our heart, our love, and our home are inexorably intertwined. Sometimes this moment of metamorphoses can be so excruciating but then it can produce something new. As individuals and as a people, we’ve suffered incredible disasters and transforming events, and yet the story goes on, the narrative goes on. Humans have always liked to tell stories, and stories keep continuing. Narrative always continues. Even though we die, these stories continue and tie all of us together in our human experience. Life equals change, it equals loss. And you have to embrace it. The entire play is about love and its effect on our every day lives; its magical, transformative quality.
- From Bill Moyer’s interview with Mary Zimmerman for NOW, 3/22/02
The key really truly was Mary's divorce (she was going through hers while she wrote it). And just as with last fall Dusa became a touchstone for me at that point in my life, Meta was a touchstone for me for the point I'm at right now, looking forward with hopefulness and letting go of the past with grace.
I mean, I'm not one for theater therapy or anything, but this was a year in which my art was infused with my life, you know?
...
Joe saw it over the weekend. He had nothing but good things to say about it. And he saw exactly what it was to me.
I was so glad that he came.
...
I am going to the bank today to make our final box office deposit.
The show will pay for itself on box office receipts. In fact, it will make a profit.
This means that Pro Rata will, for the first time ever, have enough seed money in the bank that I will not have to front the cash on the next show. This means that Pro Rata is self sufficient.
I cannot tell you how proud that makes me.
...
Last night after strike we went to the Market to decompress, mourn the end and celebrate the life of the show (and since I said I would sing if we were done tearing down that pool by 10, my foolish ass had to get behind the mic).
I kept looking around and just loving my artists for who they were and what they gave of themselves. I marveled at how lucky I was to captain this ship.
Then C came, and it all felt complete.
...
I know that I am a director. It's what God made me to do. It's why I exist.
And I'm so fucking lucky to have the life that I have.
Ultimately, it was an amazing show, and I am so proud of the work we did, and so humbled by the lengths that my artists went to to make this show happen, and so blown away by the passionate response that everyone seems to have for it.
It is the best piece of art I have ever made.
I was never really able to publicly say WHY this show was the way it was. Why it spoke to me so profoundly, why I poured every ounce of my artistic being and leadership into it. (Of course, I'm not telling YOU GUYS anything you don't already know).
The best I could do was those program notes.
Love, Transformation and Coming Home
Ancient myths are really not about someone going out but someone trying to get home, like Odysseus coming back from exile. It’s the story of being taken away from where we think our home is; it’s like being taken from ourselves. This play depicts many different journeys home. Sometimes, home is not where it was originally expected. Sometimes, it’s a long and arduous journey. Sometimes, we have only the memory of home and wholeness. But ultimately, our heart, our love, and our home are inexorably intertwined. Sometimes this moment of metamorphoses can be so excruciating but then it can produce something new. As individuals and as a people, we’ve suffered incredible disasters and transforming events, and yet the story goes on, the narrative goes on. Humans have always liked to tell stories, and stories keep continuing. Narrative always continues. Even though we die, these stories continue and tie all of us together in our human experience. Life equals change, it equals loss. And you have to embrace it. The entire play is about love and its effect on our every day lives; its magical, transformative quality.
- From Bill Moyer’s interview with Mary Zimmerman for NOW, 3/22/02
The key really truly was Mary's divorce (she was going through hers while she wrote it). And just as with last fall Dusa became a touchstone for me at that point in my life, Meta was a touchstone for me for the point I'm at right now, looking forward with hopefulness and letting go of the past with grace.
I mean, I'm not one for theater therapy or anything, but this was a year in which my art was infused with my life, you know?
...
Joe saw it over the weekend. He had nothing but good things to say about it. And he saw exactly what it was to me.
I was so glad that he came.
...
I am going to the bank today to make our final box office deposit.
The show will pay for itself on box office receipts. In fact, it will make a profit.
This means that Pro Rata will, for the first time ever, have enough seed money in the bank that I will not have to front the cash on the next show. This means that Pro Rata is self sufficient.
I cannot tell you how proud that makes me.
...
Last night after strike we went to the Market to decompress, mourn the end and celebrate the life of the show (and since I said I would sing if we were done tearing down that pool by 10, my foolish ass had to get behind the mic).
I kept looking around and just loving my artists for who they were and what they gave of themselves. I marveled at how lucky I was to captain this ship.
Then C came, and it all felt complete.
...
I know that I am a director. It's what God made me to do. It's why I exist.
And I'm so fucking lucky to have the life that I have.