Everyday something is going to happen that we have absolutely no control over. You don't always know how the events in your life are going to unfold. You couldn't possibly. It's what we do with those events after they happen, how we choose to act and move on from the events that shape us that shows us how much control we actually do have over our lives.
Last weekend, I said goodbye to "Waverly, Ron, Wendy, Nancy, and Andrew." These people who I have gotten to know on the page and fleshed out on the stage for the past 12 weeks. They are not insignificant in any fashion. They have been very meaningful for me. Additionally, I part with my new friends and loved ones who filled those characters with life, who thankfully I will get the chance to see again and continue to love...
My friend Andrew Crabtree passed away early this year and I didn't really get a chance to say goodbye. This show was my opportunity to deal with a painful unexpected event like 9/11, but grieve for Andrew in the only way I know how, through art. His picture has remained on our 9/11 memorial wall throughout the run, reminding me of his love for life and others, as well as his incredible ability to captivate his audience, his loved ones, and his creator.
I went to the 911 Memorial two weeks into the run of my show. It was a powerful experience. An unforgettable, breath-taking, emotionally unprepared for anything I was undergoing, experience. I suddenly felt the gravity of the event that I had only ever witnessed on TV, on the internet, in pictures and movies. I watched plenty of documentaries before the show, several newscasts from the actual day, researched the missing and the rescued, and the many fallen. The impact I felt due to my research was minimal compared to the impact of seeing the actual site, standing between where they were and what they are today. Standing at "Ground Zero." I couldn't help but find myself thinking about the missing character of "Wendy" in "Recent Tragic Events" and if she was indeed at the WTC that day, which tower she would have worked in, did she get out or was she inside when they fell, if she did get out then did she go back and help others or did she run as far as she could away from her smoldering workplace. The feeling I got from sitting there taking it "all" in was heavy. It was something I wasn't altogether prepared for but it was something I very much needed. It was a completion for me of the research and solidification of who my character "Andrew" was. If you haven't had a chance to visit the memorial, do it, and set aside a whole day for it, or at least a whole morning. You'll be surprised how it will grab you and just how long you might stay there lost in reflection.
Last weekend, I said goodbye to "Waverly, Ron, Wendy, Nancy, and Andrew." These people who I have gotten to know on the page and fleshed out on the stage for the past 12 weeks. They are not insignificant in any fashion. They have been very meaningful for me. Additionally, I part with my new friends and loved ones who filled those characters with life, who thankfully I will get the chance to see again and continue to love...
My friend Andrew Crabtree passed away early this year and I didn't really get a chance to say goodbye. This show was my opportunity to deal with a painful unexpected event like 9/11, but grieve for Andrew in the only way I know how, through art. His picture has remained on our 9/11 memorial wall throughout the run, reminding me of his love for life and others, as well as his incredible ability to captivate his audience, his loved ones, and his creator.
I went to the 911 Memorial two weeks into the run of my show. It was a powerful experience. An unforgettable, breath-taking, emotionally unprepared for anything I was undergoing, experience. I suddenly felt the gravity of the event that I had only ever witnessed on TV, on the internet, in pictures and movies. I watched plenty of documentaries before the show, several newscasts from the actual day, researched the missing and the rescued, and the many fallen. The impact I felt due to my research was minimal compared to the impact of seeing the actual site, standing between where they were and what they are today. Standing at "Ground Zero." I couldn't help but find myself thinking about the missing character of "Wendy" in "Recent Tragic Events" and if she was indeed at the WTC that day, which tower she would have worked in, did she get out or was she inside when they fell, if she did get out then did she go back and help others or did she run as far as she could away from her smoldering workplace. The feeling I got from sitting there taking it "all" in was heavy. It was something I wasn't altogether prepared for but it was something I very much needed. It was a completion for me of the research and solidification of who my character "Andrew" was. If you haven't had a chance to visit the memorial, do it, and set aside a whole day for it, or at least a whole morning. You'll be surprised how it will grab you and just how long you might stay there lost in reflection.
Let's all be aware. Aware of what "is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time." (David Foster Wallace, 'This is Water'") Life is too damn short not to notice and respond to all the love in your life, life is too short to not be doing whatever it is you feel you we're meant to be doing, life is too short to waste on being angry or forever sad. We can't always make sense of the events that are dealt to us, but we can help to control how we perceive them and how we choose to act. Thank you Andrew for living your life with reckless abandon. Your happiness was ever-present, ever-thriving, ever-changing the frowns around you to brilliant smiles. I miss you.
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