[flickr id=”12222750924″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”original” group=”” align=”none”]The other day a professor of mine was telling me the story of his first performance in Chicago back in the 70’s. Nothing was going right. There were so many technical problems. He was sure this was going to be a disaster. He shared his feelings about the performance with a friend and the friend told him, “Remember, you are doing this because you want to. Because you think it’s fun.” Jeff remembered to have fun and the performance went wonderfully.

So my performance “Dreams is a Possible End” finally happened! Like Jeff, I was, for a moment, “sure” it was going to be a disaster. I really didn’t think it was going to come together. But, as is often the case, everything miraculously came together in the last minute. Thanks in no small way to the help of Jenny Magnus and Sherry Antonini, whose directorial eyes helped bring the piece together.  I also received some amazing help from my classmates Chris Bednash (first year Interdisciplinary Arts & Media student), Chelsey Schilling (2nd year student) and Brent Koene (2nd year student).  I could not have done this performance without them.

[flickr id=”12222903346″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”original” group=”” align=”none”]On the night of the first performance, I was very stressed. We still hadn’t had a successful technical run-through. I was stressed but, before we opened the doors to the audience, Sherry told me just to have fun.  This was the advice I needed. Like Jeff was told by his friend, I needed to remember at this moment that I was doing this because I wanted to, because I thought it was fun.  If I was enjoying myself, there was a good chance the audience would enjoy themselves as well.

[flickr id=”12222488213″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”original” group=”” align=”none”]We opened the doors and before long we had packed the theatre. I couldn’t believe how many people came to see the performance. I was touched by the number of friends that came just to support me. That was a gift.

[flickr id=”12222494213″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”original” group=”” align=”none”]The first performance happened with only a few technical hiccups. And the second went perfectly. There was a great turnout for both of the performances.

This performance was one of the most valuable learning experiences for me of the last few years. I learned so much, primarily due to the help of the Creative Push Collective. If any of my creative friends out there are looking for a creative push of their own, I can’t recommend highly enough a workshop with the Creative Push Collective.

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