Endings Start With Answers

I’ve been holding off on writing about the fate of the Alliance (last mentioned back hereish) for a while, as I’m not removed enough from the situation to really write much about it.

But here are the basicists of the basics:

1) The company did get out of the space by the end of the month.

2) The show originally planned for April and May went off without a hitch thanks to the efforts of some really hard-working, wonderful people. It has gotten great reviews, and is now running through June – the longest extension of an Alliance show since early 2004!

3) I am no longer the Chairman of the Board or the Treasurer of the company. In fact, I am not on the board in any capacity.

4) It was a decision that was totally mine, based on several factors, most noticeably my dwindling time as I continue pounding my head on the keyboard and hoping that a screenplay comes of it.

(For this site, it would appear I’ve buried the lede.)

There was a laundry list of reasons that I stepped down. The biggest one was the time commitment; I am working on two screenplays (one full length and one short), a stage play, and trying to resurrect a moribund freelance writing career. This is in addition to SAT prep. And if I can’t sell the full length screenplay, I’m going to try to produce it in 2008. There just isn’t the kind of time needed anymore.

Also, about midway through the month of March, I looked around at the company and realized that it was in no way, shape or form either helping me or fun. It was fun in that I got to hang out with some fun people, but those who are truly friends won’t mind hanging out at the bar instead of the theater. And it wasn’t helping me in that I had not, in two years, been cast in a single full-length play. Sure, 365 Days/365 Plays was fun to be a part of and all of that, but I was not getting anything out of it in terms of my career – and that wasn’t going to change in the near future.

Instead, I was spending a great deal of time – sometimes upwards of 20 hours a week during busy times – working to get other people on stage. Some were appreciative, some didn’t notice. That part doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that I was doing all of the work that no one wants to do – I was paying bills, thinking about things like insurance and liability and taxes while everyone else was thinking about performing and show nights.

Then, there were the frustrations I felt during the beginning of the move process. All of those boiled down to vision, really. I had a vision of where the company could go, but it was going to take a lot of work to get there. It was going to take fundraising, taking chances on big productions, hiring help from outside the company on occasion, becoming a bigger part of the community and expanding our actor pool. Meanwhile, it took board members five months to replace the back door and we couldn’t even set up a meeting with our “web designer” about a redesign for the home page. In January I presented to the board a list of 11 things I wanted us to work on. Not a single action was taken on any of them by the time I had stepped down. There is a lot of potential in a theater company that’s existed for 21 years, but there’s also a lot of opportunity to rest on laurels.

It sucks, because it sure seems like I’ve lost some friends because of it – phone calls and text messages go unreturned, etc. And it also sucks because I have an unnecessary attachment to anything I am a part of for an extended period of time. I feel bad, almost to the point of guilt, for jumping ship. But at some point my sanity won out.

I am proud, extremely proud, of all the company accomplished in the last eighteen months or so when I was on the board, including my six months as chairman. I have no doubt that the Alliance will go on to achieve even more moving forward. But I have little left to give.

Comments

[JT]

I am proud of you.

[Snyder]

Spuhl-dogg, I'll always rather hang out at the bar with you.

[Robert]

Snyder - Thank you. Though my liver disagrees.

Joni - I'm not sure it's much to be proud of...

[A.Taylor]

I think you made the right decision! Way to put yourself first. Seriously.

[David]

Remember the Alamo!

[Robert]

A- Thank you. You know me ... it's not something I do well...

D- Stupid Alamo.