Thank-you!

It's taken me a couple of days longer than it should have to write this post - I had intended to post this Sunday night, but the stifling heat had other plans, making things like sleeping, eating, and thinking in complete sentences very difficult. Today the heat finally broke, and with the cooler temperatures my ability to be productive, however tenous, has returned once again.  

Regular readers of this blog will recall that when I started this year's journey we were in yet another lockdown. I hated those days, as I'm sure many of you did too, but the one thing I had too look forward to, naively so or not, was the chance to get back to making some theatre this summer. 

Preparing for an event that you aren't sure is going to go ahead has become a soul-destroying leap of faith for people in our industry, but this summer many things that were planned to happen actually happened, and you could almost hear the sigh of relief coming from producers as patrons arrived. Yes, there were some hiccups, some people did test postive and had to stay away from things, but theatre as a community really got back on its feet, and in many ways, so did I.

I had a great time with the cast of Finding Our Light Again, the Ennotville Library show. John, Shari, Nicole, Anthony and Katy - you knocked this one out of the park. The plays just worked, all of them, in ways that they don't always do, and audiences responded very well, ranging from cheering and booing in the melodrama, to an audible gasp at the end of Border Dispute. I really think that all five plays could have a life beyond this show.

And after we closed that show it was a very fast turnaround - just a couple of weeks to rehearse and produce "Have You Flogged Your Crew Today?" at the Guelph Fringe Festival. What can I say about this experience - it was more than I ever could have asked for. I don't typically get up on stage and perform any more, so this show was stretching out some little-used muscles to begin with, but to get up on stage and tell my own story was both terrifying, and liberating. Many people told me how much they admired my candor, that it must have really taken courage to talk about my past in that way. But that was the liberating part, not the terrifying one. It felt good - no, it felt great - to regale people with all the stupid mistakes I've made over the years. The terrifying part was wondering if my experience would matter to anyone else, if people in the audience (whether they knew me or not) would actually care enough about what I had to say to show up, to listen, and to stay. 

As far as I know nobody walked out of my show, and people did laugh, whether they were acquaintances of mine or not (one person even drove over an hour to see the show on a friend's recommendation). Many people appreciated both the humour, and the more poingnant moments as well - that was more than I had dared to hope for, but it was most welcome when it did come. And I couldn't have asked for a warmer welcome or a better experience with the Guelph Fringe team, from the organizing committee, to Dennis, my rock-solid tech, to all the volunteers. I'm so glad that I threw my hat into the ring and applied back in 2019, with no idea that this is where things would end up three years later. 

So that's a wrap on Grinder Productions 2022 - at least for now. Who knows? Maybe another opportunity will come down the pipe in the next few months, but if nothing does then I can still raise a glass this New Year's Eve to a great year of making theatre in the "age of the possible." As for what's in store for Grinder Productions 2023, well, stay tuned... because honestly I don't know myself what I'm going to do! Whatever it is though, if you read this blog you'll be the first to know. 

Thank-you everyone!