Double Heart: Endings

Quirk Cultural Center

I am very, very poor at articulating happiness. What I mean, I guess, is that I am not very good at feeling it. One moment of joy is only going to lead to embarrassment or disappointment, eventually, probably soon, am I right? I do not wish to be churlish, or a braggart, or worse yet, a fool. I do not know how not to be an ass when I am grateful for goodness.

And then there is the sheer weight of personal responsibility I feel for my own situation, at any moment, at least when it is negative. The bad is something I have done or earned. The good is just an accident, and nothing I should get too excited about.

Having said that, yesterday was one of stupendous highs and lows, some aspects of which I am not at liberty to reveal at the moment. Suffice it to say, we closed the tour of Double Heart, and from start to finish it was the best GLT outreach tour I have ever participated in. No contest. There have been good tours, to be sure, even great ones, but this was without flaw or blemish. Just outstanding.

The script is very good. There, I have said enough about that. But the acting company was an absolute utter joy to work with, full of positive energy and excitement from the first day, before the first day when they all said "yes" they'd do it, and that never ran out. My writing was honored by these three, Annie, Emily and James, and they made me very happy with every single moment.

The designers, the facilitators, and all of our venues, which special emphasis on the venues ... I will admit, I was not looking forward to this last week. Not because of the facilities or their staff members, who have always worked to accommodate us and spread the word. But the last four public venues were those which traditionally, due to time of day perhaps, or particular location, have regularly had low turnout. Not so this year. Akron Main Library, Olde Towne Hall Theatre, Cleveland Sight Center, all broke tour attendance records, and even at Quirk Cultural Arts attendance was only second to last year's record-breaking Agatha Christie tour.

Our last performance was yesterday morning, at Lake Ridge Academy, where the students were remarkably responsive. Not as wild as those at other schools, a bit more knowing, but smart and engaged. Even the boys.

The company had lunch at City Diner before going our separate ways. Parting was bittersweet. We really had a great time. Heck, the show even got a review in Rave & Pan:

"You don’t have to know a thing about Much Ado to get a major buzz from Double Heart. The language is funny and at times quite elegant and wise about issues of the heart."

Thank you for that. Another bright spot for which I am grateful.

Last night These Are The Times debuted at CPT. We had about 50 people, not bad for a Thursday night. Tonight should be a much larger, and younger crowd. There will be beer.