Last month, Point Park University's Pittsburgh Playhouse turned its lights out for the last time during a movingly beautiful event. This was the beating heart of my alma mater's conservatory and it's where I met many of my dearest friends (including my dearest friend, Ruth Gamble) and first cut my teeth as a storyteller.
I couldn't make it back to the Lights Out event. But, one of my mentors, Sheila McKenna, had contacted me back in February with a question. She had recommended my short stories, Allister Cromley's Fairweather Belle (Bedtime Stories For Grownups To Tell), to one of her directing students and wanted to know if that student could adapt some of them into a one act play to be performed at the Playhouse's final series of student one acts.
This opportunity meant a lot to me for a myriad of reasons, but here are the key ones:
1.) The connection came from Sheila, who was one of my first teachers at Point Park and one of the earliest to shine a light on my written words. She encouraged all her students to be storytellers and hone whatever artistic tools you had to tell those stories, whether it be on the stage or on the page.
2.) The one acts have always been performed in the Playhouse's Studio Theatre, an intimate black box theatre, where I spent practically all of my onstage time at Point Park - including the first time I performed in the Playhouse - which was in a showcase for our freshman Rehearsal & Performance class that was taught and directed by...Sheila McKenna.
3.) Because I couldn't make it to the Lights Out event, I felt like a little bit of my spirit got to be in the Studio Theatre just one last time and that's a gift I'll always be grateful for.
So, thank you to Sheila for making this connection, thank you to Klara Hricik for adapting these stories and to you and your cast and crew for breathing life into the written words. And for sharing these images with me.
A few days ago, I got to watch a video of the one act. It was lovely and brought tears to my eyes. Life often comes full circle, but we don't always get to see so clearly where the ends of that circle meet.
I couldn't make it back to the Lights Out event. But, one of my mentors, Sheila McKenna, had contacted me back in February with a question. She had recommended my short stories, Allister Cromley's Fairweather Belle (Bedtime Stories For Grownups To Tell), to one of her directing students and wanted to know if that student could adapt some of them into a one act play to be performed at the Playhouse's final series of student one acts.
This opportunity meant a lot to me for a myriad of reasons, but here are the key ones:
1.) The connection came from Sheila, who was one of my first teachers at Point Park and one of the earliest to shine a light on my written words. She encouraged all her students to be storytellers and hone whatever artistic tools you had to tell those stories, whether it be on the stage or on the page.
2.) The one acts have always been performed in the Playhouse's Studio Theatre, an intimate black box theatre, where I spent practically all of my onstage time at Point Park - including the first time I performed in the Playhouse - which was in a showcase for our freshman Rehearsal & Performance class that was taught and directed by...Sheila McKenna.
3.) Because I couldn't make it to the Lights Out event, I felt like a little bit of my spirit got to be in the Studio Theatre just one last time and that's a gift I'll always be grateful for.
So, thank you to Sheila for making this connection, thank you to Klara Hricik for adapting these stories and to you and your cast and crew for breathing life into the written words. And for sharing these images with me.
A few days ago, I got to watch a video of the one act. It was lovely and brought tears to my eyes. Life often comes full circle, but we don't always get to see so clearly where the ends of that circle meet.
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