Filling Time: TwinLife Empty-Nesting

Imagine this: it’s 7 PM on a Friday night. A group of writers gathers to find out what they will be writing that night. Each takes a starting and ending line home to write a 15-20 minute scene that will become part of a larger play. By dawn, the scripts are complete. The next morning, actors arrive at the theater, get their lines, rehearse all day—and at 8 PM Saturday, they perform.

This was the 24 Hour Theater Project held at a local community theater this past weekend. When I saw the advertisement for tickets, I was intrigued. I wanted to know how it would work, so I grabbed a friend and went for a wild night on the town. (And by wild, I mean that we had a martini before going to the show.) I was incredibly impressed both with the quality of writing and with the acting, especially because the actors all had their lines memorized. Throughout the performance, my mind wandered to what the last 24 hours had been like.

I could imagine it pretty viscerally because I have been involved in theater since I was young. I was three when I first stepped foot on stage. Family lore has it that I cried when my parents tried to have me sing in the Bible school choir, but I begged my mom to let me perform in the high school musical she was directing. I wanted to be with “my friends,” the seventh graders who were pseudo-babysitting me at rehearsals every day. So she put me on stage with the “big kids.” I was in one chorus number in Oliver! and one in The Wiz, but it was enough to start bringing me out of my quiet, timid shell.

When I was nine, our local community theater posted audition announcements for Annie. My Nana and mom had taken me to see Annie on Broadway, and I loved it. My parents got me the record (yes, the record), and I played it constantly, singing at the top of my lungs, belting out “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow” and “Maybe” and all of the songs that Annie is known for. To make a long story short, I was cast in the title role, and by the end of the first decade of my life, I had been bit by the theater bug.

Through high school and college, and even post-college, I kept finding my way back to theater. I performed, directed, and wrote. I learned I really love the back side of theater – the production of it all. When I was producing and directing, I got to unleash my creativity, encourage people to do their best no matter their role, and help it all come together to entertain the audience. It’s something I do professionally when I create conferences or other spaces that help people come together, but there is something magical about theater – where life is suspended for a beat and I can inhabit another space, character, or timeline.

So when I saw the advertisement for the 24 Hour Theater Project, I knew it would be a great way to fill time. Hanging out with my friend was bonus time. And now I’ve got all kinds of ideas of how I can bring 24 Hour Productions to my job and my career context!