...first words...

So here goes my attempt at a blog. I never was very good about talking...about...myself.  I thought this would be a good way to keep friends and family up to date on my travels and adventures.  Here we go!

I have grown up with the goal and dream of working full time in a theatre, doing what I love.  I started as a student stage manager with Youth Theatre Northwest on Mercer Island where I grew the seeds of the love I now have for theatre.  I spent a handful of seasons with them (and now am lucky enough to have my pictures up in the back hallways) and then grew on to high school theatre.  Starting in my freshman year, I helped the resident lighting designer with the shows and got the lighting bug.  Over the next year or so, I slowly took over the lighting design until I was doing all the shows for the school, every year.  I then progressed to designing at my college (albeit a community college, but I had a damned good teacher).  When I got fed up with college, I got a job as the technical director with Issaquah High School.  This let me stretch my creative juices designing lights, sets, and building everything.  After two years with IHS, the school was torn down to make way for a new one, and I set about getting a 'real' job. I worked in Sales for a couple years but always kept my love of the theatre on the side.  I would sporatically get work for friends here and there, but never enough to make any difference.  One of the odd jobs I took ended up leading into a semi permanent job with Book-it and Seattle Shakespeare as their master electrician.  I was moving up in the world!  I spent the next year working with those two companies and picked up some more work with UMO, going on tour to Illinois (what a blast!).  I was starting to pick up more work here and there and wrapped the first season up with designing back at Youth Theatre Northwest for my 10 year homecoming to that space.  I was getting enough work that I made the decision to start looking for steady jobs that would allow me to finally fulfill my dream of being in theatre full time.  I started scouting areas that had a higher concentration of playhouses and finally settled on Southern California.  It had sun, movies, hot guys, lots of places for work, and I loved the area.  Buckling down, I started actively searching for related jobs that I could easily take over.  I took some trips to LA, Long Beach, and San Diego to look at what the theatre scene had to offer.  I applied for a handful of positions with touring companies as well established houses.  With summer coming to a close, I had to start getting ready for the next season with Book-it.  We were going to reopen our famous Cider House Rules, pt 2!  My plan was to get through this show and then take off to either SoCal or NYC with my favorite stage manager.

That all changed when I got a phone call on 9.3.10 interviewing for a job on the road.  I was asked if I could be in California in 10 days.

Could I pack up my life and relocate to multiple cities, with one show, for an indefinite amount of time?

This was the opportunity that I had been waiting for.  I could finally live, breath, and eat, THEATRE.  I took the job.  I got my plane ticket and was on my way.

I spent the couple days getting rid of all my worldly belongings.  I donated the majority of my clothing to Goodwill, my dishes to Lambert House, my food to the Chicken Soup Brigade, my furniture to anyone that wanted it.  I had to fit my life in a suitcase and get the hell out of dodge.

I also still had a commitment to my family at Book-it.  This meant my last week in Seattle would be spent hanging, focusing, and programming a massive show.  While getting ready to leave.

So here I sit, behind my Express 48/96, programming an award winning show till the wee hours of the night.  I am living out of my backpack, which has a change of clothing, my toothbrush, some deodorant, and my contact case.  I did my apartment walk thru last night.  I am officially homeless.

This is the opportunity of a lifetime.  I decided I should share it with people so you can see what life is like behind the scenes.  I will be traveling with a 'tent' that seats well over a thousand people, flies actors all around, and still manages to go city to city.  Lets see what happens.

I cannot promise to update every night or post pictures.  I am not all that funny or strange.  I am just a regular twenty three year old male that is going on an adventure.  I hope we have fun!