Judson Church, and a Mission Statement Check-In

So...remember that mission statement I worked on/navel-gazed about, several posts back?

MISSION INTO ACTION!!!

Yesterday, I directed a reading of a play of mine at the Judson Church.

Self-producing a free, site-specific reading?  - Check.
Partnering with an organization committed to low-cost theater? - Check
Getting the work on its feet rather than seen by the "right" folks? - Check! (although there were some terrifically smart theater folks there, and I was grateful for their presence!)
Embracing non-realism, breaking the fourth wall, and trying to connect with the audience? - Check, check and check.  That fourth wall was in pieces on the floor.
Connecting to old stories? - Check
Screwing up? -- Oh yeah.  Absolutely "check."

I was incredibly excited about the day; it's one of the first times, in a long time, that I've felt like I was in the driver's seat.  It felt GOOD to talk directly to my actors, it felt GOOD to feed them lunch, it felt GREAT to be doing the work we were doing in a place built for people and God.

And...the play totally doesn't work yet.  People were focused on things, asking questions about things, that to me felt incidental, missing other huge things, things I thought should be mysterious weren't...I mean a laundry list of "this ain't it, Kid."

But Oh my God, how great to be able to be in a room with a real audience, a diverse audience of people who LOVE theater and people who only KINDA like theater...and to get a whole range of reactions!  How amazing to be out in the world with an early draft of the play!

YES!  More, please!

I got to work with some amazing actors, people I'd work with again in a heartbeat, and who offered to come to my living room to do reads of rewrites any time ( ! :)  ).

Hurray.

The guy who made it possible, Micah Bucey, is one of my new favorite people on this continent or the next.  He's the arts minister at Judson.  I mean -- ARTS MINISTER?!?  Can every institution in the world please have one of these?  Can I be one?  How amazing to facilitate, curate, invite, organize...He's like Bacchus meets Jesus or something, I mean REALLY.  I want to make plays just for him, and for that space!

So...this whole "mission" thing...so far, so good...