malaysia's musings

Okay, everyone at this point has either read/woken up from the hangover and remembered about this amazing party on Sunday night.

First off, right off the bat, Kudos to Thomasin. She managed to get what can only be described as many "generations" of Waysiders all together in one place to celebrate this man who means so much to all of us.

Next, how amazing to think that there are some people who drove up to 10 hours to get here to spend 6 hours together. I think you can see from the slide show above (if the code indeed worked) that much fun was had.

On a personal note Warner Crocker (who does actually turn 50 today - Happy Birthday!)has been one of the most influential people in my life thus far. I was living in St. Louis, in a fairly bad relationship, considering quitting theatre when I got this bug up my ass to give it one more shot and mailed out what seemed like 100 resumes and cover letters (even accidentally sent Wayside two - that's how frantic I was) Weeks after I had sent Wayside my stuff I got a call from Libby Ingham (our former Company Manager)that Warner wanted to set up a phone interview with me. Now, it's a well known fact that I love the phone interview. Any time you can get a job while sitting on your bed in your pajamas I'm all for. What followed was more like a conversation with a long lost friend than a phone interview. I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. (I say hadn't because there have been many more sessions of uncontrollable laughter since then) At the end of the conversation he told me he was off to SETC (or UPTA - something like that) and wanted to interview a couple more people and would get back to me in a week. The next day he called and offered me the job. Told me he knew I was the right person and didn't want to interview a bunch of people he wasn't going to hire anyway. It took me 2 hours to figure out the financial stuff and I started packing (my move was still about 2 months away). I have never regretted it.

I have had the honor to work in some fairly large houses in this country with some fairly well established professionals. But this is my home. When the time comes to leave this beautiful place it will still be my home. And this man is the reason why. He has comforted me in my pain, bolstered me in my failures and celebrated with me in my successes. He has encouraged me when I needed it and yelled at me when I needed it more. I came here with no actual Stage Management experience (only assistant work under my belt) and every time he tells me that I'm one of the best he's worked with all I can think is how much he has shaped me.

So kudos to one of my best friends and mentors.

Happy Birthday Boss.