Archive for the ‘Reviews and Criticism’Category

Four Years

This is the first post in exactly four years.

Four years ago on November 7th, 2016 I was reflecting on the cathartic artistic explosion of Taylor Mac’s 24 hour theater piece. I had such hopes and dreams. I announced a plan to write up 24 essays about the experience. I was so sure I was going to do it. It was a done deal. “Starting tomorrow!” I stated as incontrovertible fact. As if “tomorrow” was a thing under my control.

And then… then November 8th, 2016 happened. The tomorrow in question. The unthinkable. The impossible. The utterly unimaginable disaster of Donald Trump becoming the president of this country derailed any plans for the future.

The past four years have been… tumultuous ones for me. Close friends died. A 25 year career at Pixar came to an end. Some serious health challenges arose. Foundational components of my life evaporated and through it all was the backdrop of a country becoming unrecognizable and unwelcoming.

But a number of good things happened as well. I had a great run as part of a vaudeville duo in San Franciscoso’s amazing immersive Speakeasy project. I’ve written some music and theater I’m very proud of, including Now I Am Become with Choral Chameleon and Death of a Playboy with West Edge Opera. I’ve been building a program within West Edge that aims to change the way opera gets commissioned.

And now, exactly four years after my last post, Donald Trump has been voted out of office. It seems fitting to post something after this strange, unsettling gap.

Will I start blogging again? I’m not sure. The future is still kinda hazy. I don’t expect it will ever be as unblemished as it was that Monday afternoon four years ago. But I expect things will start to get a little clearer as time goes on.

Maybe even tomorrow.