April is Cruel to this Fool

TS Eliot wrote "April is the cruelest month." It's also turning out to be one of the busiest. As I careen ever-less-gracefully into middle age I'm finding that spring is the most hectic time of my year. Some of that is due to the weather, and the myriad of things that start to grow (or start to be born) at this time of year. Some of it is due to the cyclical nature of the day job, with spring and fall being natural times for major projects to come to fruition: spring tours free of weather cancelation worries, end-of-year dance recitals, etc. And some of it is simply due to the frustration of being too busy to get time to work on my summer shows! 

I still don't have much work done on my upcoming shows,  not as much as I had hoped, anyways. I still don't have pictures of set pieces to show you. I did get the boxes done though, so I suppose that's something:

And I have made some progress on the shows. Maid of Stone has a few set pieces built, a partial cast (Wow!) and even a poster, more or less: 

Rehearsals for Pride and Prejudice are going well too - I should be doing more as a cast member to help get the word out about it. Here's the poster, and here's where you can buy tickets:

And of course, baby goats. Baby goats as far as the eye can see:

Yes, it's been a busy spring so far, and it's the time of year when I feel the least in control. Throughout the year so much of the rhythmn of my life seems set by people, places, and things that are beyond my control, but it's at its worst in the springtime. I can't choose when a show is booked, any more than I can choose when a baby animal is born, despite what nominal influence I may seem to have over both of those things. 

So I'm seeking ways to make my art in spite of that lack of control, using what agency I do have to try and set some boundaries, and carve out a small space for me to make the work I need to make. Because I do need to make some of my own art, and soon. The tablet that I'm writing this on has come out too infrequently these past few months, the moleskin notebook stored beside it in my bag should have been filled and replaced three times over by now. 

I need to ask a few people to be in my plays this summer. I need to build some set pieces, and some soundscapes. And by the time I write my next post I need to have done at least two of those things, and ideally all three. Time will tell how I make out - will April's cruelty turn into May's malaise, or will the first shoots of spring signal a bountiful summer to come?