"You do you, man" (or, Mi CASA es su CASA)

It's been a wild couple of days!

Some backstory:

I'd always admired Anne Alsedek's onstage work, but getting to see her work as an arts educator has been a privilege and a treat. I got my M.Ed in '08, and not long after returning to Harrisburg, Anne took a chance on me and gave me the opportunity to teach theatre classes at Open Stage.

She gave me a chance to explore every idea I had, supported me terrifically, and gave me amazing advice constantly from years of accumulated teaching wisdom. She actively mentored me and truly influenced me as a teacher. Anne had me teaching adults, kids, teens, and 'tweens. She gave me hope, confidence, and faith that I might one day teach theatre full time, despite the odds. I still get excited every time I see former students Aaron Bomar or Sushma Saha do terrific work in local theatre, and those two and others I taught there do that regularly.

Clark and Melissa Nicholson had given me similar opportunities and support at Gamut Theatre before I returned to school for teaching, and they've given me opportunities since numerous times. I'm excited to return to GTSA this summer as an Acting teacher, for one thing. I owe Amy Alleman and Jeff Luttermoser a huge debt of thanks for involving me in that, too. To see kids I (and many others) taught at Gamut now fully on their way into professional careers of their own, working in LA and New York and DC and Philly, fills me with wonder.

For the first four years of my full-time teaching career, while I spent my days and nights and weekends working at being the best English teacher I could be, the chances I had to be a theatre teacher (mainly at Gamut and Open Stage) were my lifeblood to a dream.

In 2012, I took a leap of faith and followed that dream to Susquehanna Township, and helped them start a School of the Arts, a school-within-a-school arts program with strands in Fashion Design, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts/Theatre.

I quickly realized I had a lot of work here if I wanted it, and I dove in. Our students were soon mounting four productions a year and an audition portfolio showcase. Each marking period we focused on a different performing arts genre and mounted a production from within that genre. We did David Ives' All in the Timing (modern comedy), Frankenstein, Little Women, and Flaherty & Ahrens' Lucky Stiff. We produced an original student-written children's show and adapted a full-length film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream with student-written screenplays. The actors performed their roles in one scene, shot the next, directed the next, produced the next one, and edited the one after that. We paid homage to our school district's amazing Jewish community with a Holocaust memorial drama presentation of an ensemble-driven I Never Saw Another Butterfly. We mounted The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee with nothing paid for but the rights and our music director's stipend. This year we put on four shows with no budgetary support whatsoever; I don't know how we did it, but we did! (Please note: every public school district in Pennsylvania had a tight year for funding this year while our state legislature and governor refused to finalize a budget and state aid was essentially cut off for the better part of a full year, so our tight times were justified, nor were we alone in dealing with them.) One was Aristophanes' The Frogs. Another was a tribute to our school district's incredible African American community called Struggle & Triumph; I've never been prouder to be a part of a show in my life than that purpose-driven, heartfelt work. I dove in and got our Drama Club producing a fall play again, started an improv troupe, and this year that club put on an additional four one act plays. I dove in and got to start a spring cabaret with our Musical Club, and last year was honored to direct our Apollo-nominated production of Aida. Four years went by in a blink, partly because I was jumping from show to show pretty much the entire time. It was an amazing ride. I learned a lot. It was, without a doubt, my dream gig, even if it wasn't easy.

I met Lisa Weitzman years ago when she and I (and many other good friends and colleagues) helped Clark start the TMI improv troupe at Gamut. She was the theatre teacher at CASA, a program Anne had helped found years ago as the Harrisburg Arts Magnet School.

In 2014 I lucked into a marvelous opportunity and was hired to replace the director of Theatre Harrisburg's Last of the Red Hot Lovers (the original director had to drop the project due to valid conflicts and life events--they weren't mad, but they needed somebody and the auditions were happening relatively soon). Lisa came to audition--I was thrilled, and she read well for literally every role. She was fantastic in the show. A couple nights after rehearsal, pretty much whenever it was raining, she would give me a lift home. I walked to those rehearsals because our house is only a few blocks from Theatre Harrisburg. Every time Lisa drove me home we would get to talk shop and swap notes. They were some of the best teacher to teacher conversations I've ever had. We both had this sense of shared giddy glee; "Oh man, I can't believe we each get to do this for our job!" We also had a realistic sense of how challenging the work actually is, and could share those struggles openly and honestly without naming names or throwing anyone under the bus. It meant the world to me at the time; I needed it! I was running too fast, doing too much, and feeling like I was spinning out of control.

CASA posted Lisa's job a bit ago, and I thought about Anne and Lisa and what they'd built there and I just had to see what I could do. Would I get an interview? Would I get an offer? Could I even consider it if I did get an offer?

Well, I did, I did, and I could.

So, this August, I should be starting at the Capital Area School for the Arts as a new theatre teacher, and I could not be more excited about this new adventure!

One wonderful addition to the adventure will be the chance to try to support my friend Stuart Landon (Open Stage's Associate Artistic Director) as he builds a bold artistic musical theatre experience there for the students. Stuart is one of my favorite directors to watch work, and he gets young actors to dig deep and reach high for their dreams. He helped me acclimate to STSD when I started here four years ago, and he's been a great colleague and support to me. He also is a remarkable team builder, and theatre is a team sport.

As far as I know, at this point I believe Susquehanna Township plans to hand the reins of the SoPA to my good friend and valued colleague Stephanie Ungerer. Mrs. Ungerer has a BFA in Acting from NYU; these kids are in great hands with her, and I know better than anyone that she is going to love working with them and they with her. Her shift allows another great colleague of mine, Bill Burns, to return to teaching Drama and 11th grade American Lit, which he is as well-versed in as any person I have ever met. The STHS SoPA is ambitiously tackling Arsenic and Old Lace and Little Shop of Horrors next year, fundraising on their own and bravely venturing ahead like the motivated young artists they are. I hope they will still let me come improv with them on a Tuesday here and there if I can... and I hope they don't mind if I cry and cheer when I come to their shows, because I am really going to miss them. I've taught kids, but I've also met families, been hugged by proud grandparents, met uncles who traveled from Georgia to see their brother's kid in a musical, had parents chip in their time and energy just straight up volunteering to help these kids build and paint and sew and raise money. The night Aida opened, my wife held my hand as I tried to breathe, and the kids were amazing, and the dad in front of me who looked like he would rather be anywhere else in the world for the first twenty minutes of Act One turned around after the curtain call, recognized me as the guy who'd made a little speech before the show, and asked me: "Did you direct this?" "Yeah, I did," I said, kinda sheepishly. The dude grabbed me up in a bear hug, lifted me off the ground, and bellowed loudly, "You did a great f---ing job, man!!" I don't know if my directing has ever been paid such a glorious compliment. There are countless priceless memories from my short four years here (and believe me, it went by in a blink). I will forever entwine my time at Susquehanna Township with the birth and first four years of my daughter's life. This place is heart and home to me now, and I love it.

I'm going to miss the toughest faculty I've ever seen. The people I worked with in Susquehanna Township have been through it, folks! And they've held their heads up and kept hard charging for the kids. The students and families of this community are in my heart permanently. We love living here.

So, before I dive in on this one, I need to thank every person who ever had a kind thought or comment for me in the past four years, because I needed every single one of those. Thank you. Every student who was a part of SoPA or Drama Club or Musical Club, every parent of every one of those students, every colleague who encouraged us, every administrator that got a kick out of what we did, I have love for all of you.

Told my students today. I was dreading it, and they handled it like champs. Every year some kids leave our program, and others join it anew. They've grown used to seeing collaborators come and go. They smiled, kept their composure, wished me well... They continue to amaze me and make me proud. "You do you, man," said my little buddy Ari D. I will miss ALL of them. They are great, great kids. I told them I wasn't going to strong-arm any of them into joining me at CASA, because that kind of decision is best left to students and parents to make together as a team in my opinion and because "you all have a good thing here, and I know that."

But I am super excited, too, for this new opportunity. Every new gig is a new adventure, and in the theatre world a good career is spent bouncing through all sorts of new adventures along the way. Every new adventure is a new opportunity; to meet new people, to absorb new ideas, to learn and to grow.

I'm looking forward to mine, and grateful for where I've been.