Whew. Opening night was last night and I can now take a deep breath and do something frivolous like gazing dreamily into the middle distance. Last week all deep breaths were followed by grabbing something (keys, paintbrush, ladder) and dashing somewhere.

This morning is my chance to do some public thank-yous. First of all, the production crew for this play was pure joy to work with. Our director Rod Pilloud, tech director Ryan, props master Tracy, stage manager Chris, assistant stage manager Matt, set designer Kurt, and composer Allan have been valued personal friends for some time and I could not have worked with a better group. Lead carpenter Mike (my brother), costumer Sarah, and Broadway Center tech crew Kelly, Paul, and Andrew fit in well with the rest of us and made our work even better.

Next, the actors. While my work is nearly over, the work of the actors continues. I have watched them perfect their craft in rehearsal all week, but my main job during rehearsal is to scrutinize the set, looking for flaws, ways to make it better, writing lists of things to do the next morning. Last night I watched the actors, and not the set. I let them tell the story, and they did it well. I am so proud of the cast.

Finally, where would any of us be without Brett, our artistic director, the guy who had the idea, developed the plan, convinced the Broadway Center that it could work, worked countless hours at every job from dealing with Equity and our generous donors to building flats and buying cookies for opening night, and still managed to pick up his suit at the dry cleaners Friday afternoon? He is a special guy and I am honored to share my life with him. I’ll remind him of that later. This morning he is sleeping in.