There is life outside...

On the life-and-"career" front, things are going quite well. I'm working on a million shows. (well, nine. approximately.) Many sound designs, one directing, a some dramaturgy, a bit of dialect coaching, and generally being available for technical questions/helping those who don't understand sound technology. Several shows outside of school, some paid. The first show goes up on March 7th. There's a TheaterMania.com article about it here, which I think is hilarious. Learning TONS, from the shows I'm working on, from the classes I'm in. I'm noticing improvement. I still have a long way to go (but that's what life is for), but I have definitely learned something in these past 4 years. Which is encouraging.

Yesterday, I got the call offering me a position I'd applied for at a theater upstate this summer. I'll explain more when it gets closer, but it's kind of like a summerstock training deal, where you have to pay if you go as an actor but as a designer you get a full ride (including housing) and a weekly stipend. I'll be designing nine shows and assisting professional designers on others. It's a fabulous opportunity for young designers to actually DESIGN instead of just do tech things, and bridge the gap from school to professional world. And frankly, it's one of the only programs of this kind available for sound designers. There's MUCH more out there for set, costumes, and lighting.

I was chatting with one of my former teachers about this, she asked about the dates, I told her I was there until September 1st, and she said, "And then what?"

And I blanked. Having reached, of course, the first point in my life where I have no concrete plans past a certain point. (This is particularly common for people in theater as our jobs are all so temporary.) The "what are you doing this summer?" question has been answered, but it's not like, "Oh, I'll go back to school in the fall, of course." I'll be done. Grad school, maybe, in the future. Seminary, likely, in the future. But right now? I have no idea what I'm doing come September, beside abstract plans. So I stuttered, "Uhm..." and she said, "Then it's the rest of your life."

Right.

I'm not worried about it, especially with the opportunities that have come my way this semester. I feel prepared. I don't know what's going to happen. But that's actually thrilling.

The wind blows where it wants to. You hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. That's the way it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. --John 3:8. (which, I've been told, will be making an appearance at lectionary-following churches near you this March!)