It’s a wrap!! This one is short and sweet!
Photo: On vacation in Newcastle, Australia April 2019, port on Dave Koz (Smooth Jazz and more) Cruise
Closed an awesome run last night at The Marsh Berkeley! Thank you all so much for supporting me, and supporting live theater! Have appreciated each and every one of you who made such wonderful audiences, and loved your lively questions at talk backs. Thank you!
(Still to come, Part 2: So Much Fun Bringing Show Back Home)
For spreading the word and sending friends and family, colleagues, clients/patients students, I thank you. Those of you who came back a second or third time bringing family, friends, and co workers, THANK YOU!!! And to those who helped swing interviews and reviews, THANK YOU!
This run marked a huge growth spurt for me. After closing the 5 month run in SF last March, I performed show in batches around the country between vacations (working on that bucket list!). So, went from performing regularly to episodically, with life altering travel in the meantime. (No complaints!!! So grateful for the options.)
Last fall, a fellow performer called me on a Tuesday, asking if I could sub in for him on Thursday! OMG!! First of all, he’s a big name! An audience expecting him and finding newbie me??? OMG!!!! Second, hadn’t done show in over three months. It would take me at minimum 2 weeks to get show back to performance level.
“I’m sorry. I’m couldn’t possibly get the show back to performance level in 2 days.”
“No?” he asked.
“No!” I answered, though I wanted to say are you ****** kidding me????
“Okay, I get that, ” he answered. “But you will get there.”
Get there? Are you nuts? Well, think I’m now (close to) there!!! There comes a time when the words feel like the words of your everyday life thoughts, and you can step into the world, and ride the ride anytime! I sometimes now find myself quoting lines from my play to answer questions in real life. And admiring the actors who, playing the same role in several productions over years, manage to find more moments each time.
And a special thanks to all of you I’ve known who have came to show, here or elsewhere. So gratifying reconnecting: my best friend from 5th grade, elementary school friends, my boss from when I worked as an ER doc in the wine country (the year I dropped out of ObGyn training to figure out what I really wanted to do), Stanford and Kaiser Oakland colleagues I haven’t seen in decades, friends of my parents and relatives I rarely see. It is wonderful to spot your familiar faces in the audience! And it is another kind of wonderful to see an audience with not a single person I know! Thank you all.
And a special thanks to all of you I’ve known who have came to show, here or elsewhere. So gratifying reconnecting: my best friend from 5th grade, elementary school friends, my boss from when I worked as an ER doc in the wine country (the year I dropped out of ObGyn training to figure out what I really wanted to do), Stanford, UCSF and Kaiser Oakland colleagues I haven’t seen in decades, friends of my parents and relatives I rarely see (and those I hadn't met before)! It is wonderful to spot your familiar and fresh faces in the audience! And it is another kind of wonderful to see an audience with not a single person I know! Thank you all.
Next up for me, summer vacation! Yes!!
Brian Culbertson’s Napa Valley Jazz Festival, then Logan arrives from Spain for the summer with GF. We'll take in a Beach Blanket Babylon show (can you believe this only in SF institution is really closing end of 2019?), a Marin Shakespeare Returned Citizens Troop show (social justice at it's core), then Takeshi arrives. Some bonding time, and we all head off to Trevor Noah Concert, (was on Dave Koz Australia Cruise when tix went on sale - had to buy 1 day ship internet package, set alarm, then wade through screens loading at the speed of molasses in January, but scored!) then I'm off to do My Stroke of Luck at the Edmonton Fringe Festival!
