Another Saturday Night …

Just got home from work. Two great shows today with another two great crowds. Had some friends at the matinee – wonderful D.C. actress Anne Stone (whom I worked with years and years ago in stock – we were mere children) and her husband, Ed, and dear friend Gene. Went to Ebbitt’s afterwards for dinner. I wish I had stock in that place. I should at least get an account there for all the time and money I have spent there. 

Two left. What really made me happy today was even at this late date so close to our closing night, I found something new this afternoon. Just a little beat that no one would especially notice but suddenly it made total sense to me. It is so nice to discover something during a run. I notice a lot of our company is still working and finding new things – Bob and Helen especially. Tomorrow morning I am taking our fabulous Production Assistant, Lita, and our Stage Management Fellow, Victoria, out for breakfast. They are both so amazing and work so hard for very little pay or recognition. I have loved getting to know them both and hope to work with them again. Lita is going to be a stupendous Production Stage Manager and Victoria is going to be a terrific director. It is such a strange and small business that you never know who you will work with again. There are many friends I have made in all aspects of the biz that I would LOVE to work with again and of course there are a few that I hope to NEVER work with again. It’s a small list and one that I only share with a select few. That is all I am going to say on that subject – I don’t want to get into trouble. Are you wondering if I have added someone to the list recently? I’ll never tell.

What else? I am going to miss doing the blog. Ann Marie told me I should keep writing but somehow I don’t think my exploits trying to find my next gig in NYC would make much sense for an Arena Stage Blog. However, if I am ever back here you can count on me to start blogging right away. It has been great fun. I love to write and it is so hard to have the discipline to keep it up. I wrote a play with a good friend of mine that we premiered at the New York International Fringe Festival a few years ago. We got incredible response from it and did it again at various venues for a while and had a producer attached to it with plans to open it at an Off Broadway theater. Of course, this business is full of producers with plans to open your show Off Broadway. So, it didn’t happen that go round. We continue to write, though, and are working on some new material. So, you ain’t seen the last of us.

So, tomorrow is the big day. Two more shows and we are history. Still have to pack and get things in order to head home on Monday. Oy vey. Will start that tomorrow. Can’t think about it tonight.

I will write a final entry after closing and I will check the blog for a few days so if you have any comments or questions send them in and I will try to get back to you as soon as I can. Then it will all become blog history. 

’Night …
-Jay