Sometimes it’s funny what changes your mood. I was in a very dark place in the middle of this week. At one point, my mouse was poised over a button that said “Delete” with every intention of making this particular part of my life go blissfully away.
But today the mini-mayos came. Those of you who were at last year’s RTCC awards know that one of the sponsors, the C.F.Sauer Company, supplied some very cute little 3.5 ounce jars of mayonnaise for give-aways. I just got this year’s supply and, well, they’re really cute. As I unpacked them by the dozen from a huge, overpadded box (it's mayo -- were they afraid it would get bruised?), I couldn't help but smile. And that’s when the clouds began to lift.
It probably helps that I was at the IDR for “Ugly Duckling” last night, which appears to be silly good fun and stars a couple of my favorite people in the world, let alone favorite actors.
It also helped to spend some quality time with my eldest daughter yesterday who is turning into an incredible young woman. I may be a hack writer, my job may not make the world a better place and people I work with may think my theater critic hobby is the stupidest waste of time ever. But I’ve done a halfway decent job as a dad and really, that blows just about everything else out of the water.
I also did a little work on the RTCC event program today and I started imagining all of these people – many of them among the most engaging and smart people I know – together, dressed to the nines and having a good time. And while I have been sad that some of my favorite artists were not nominated this year, I thought about some of the people I know are going to be winners and how deserving they are of recognition of some kind, any kind. I thought about the smiles I hope these silly little awards might generate for them and it made me smile even wider.
Yesterday, I interviewed two more Top 40 Under 40 honorees who were incredibly inspiring and humble and talented and earnest and who are dedicated to doing amazing things with their lives. And they live right here, in our community. Sometimes I forget how incredible some of the people in this relatively small town are.
It also helps that it’s an absolutely gorgeous day.
And, if the stars align, I’m probably going to see three shows this weekend. And thinking about that reminds me that the reason I do this blog and write for Style is because I really do love theater. I don’t really give a crap whether anyone else thinks the way I chose to express my love of theater serves any purpose in the world. I’m not writing for those people. I’m writing, ultimately, for myself. For as long as I continue to do it (which will not be much longer), I plan to enjoy it.
And if you plan on commenting in such a way that rains on my parade, you can expect your comment to be deleted. Because it’s MY freaking blog and, yes, I set it up to encourage dialogue about Richmond theater. But I didn’t set it up to encourage people to bash critics, actors, designers, other commenters, or Richmond theater. And if people have the delusion that I set it up to somehow lord my opinion over the Richmond theater community, there’s no way I will change that opinion. But in a tiny attempt to be more clear, I’ve changed the name to “Dave’s Theater Blog” because that’s what it is. I don’t speak for the Richmond theater community or even all of the critics. If you have complaints, take them to someone who cares.
As Andrew so aptly suggested, if you want to start your own conversation with your own rules, go for it. It seems half the population is already doing so. Join the party! Send me the URL and I’ll link to it. But this is my blog, plain and simple.
If this post somehow pisses you off or reinforces whatever idea you have that I’m Richmond’s biggest jerk, I have a suggestion. There are a half-dozen awesome plays showing in Richmond this weekend – go see one of them. Maybe it’ll cheer you up too.
5 comments:
Is attire for the RTCC awards only black tie (tux), or can gentlemen wear variations (Blazer, dress shirt, slacks, etc)? The economy has hit some of us hard, and we can't afford to rent a tux!
hooray for the mini-mayos!
I occasionally see a commemorative mini-mayo from last year on the counter when I visit the Coles'. Decorative at this point only, of course. I'd rather have that than a silly ol' hockey puck any day.
Well, there has been fun made in other quarters about the awards press release that said "formal attire suggested" for a black-tie event but that's my attitude on it. I think you should wear what fits, both physically and economically. A lot of the fun of the evening is to get as gussied up as possible. For me, that necessitates a tux since my "new suit" is now at least 6 years old.
Just as a side note, we use the pint-sized mayo as play food for my kids. We really don't use year old mayo. Just wanted to clarify for anyone who wanted to nominate Sarah or I for parents of the year.
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