Sliding Doors

Hmm, it is 1:04 a.m. and I can't sleep. That's because my body thinks it is 8:04p.m., which it would be, if I were home in Baltimore. Instead, I am at my other home, in London, at Matthew's.

I really do need to get some sleep. Tomorrow night is Awards Night, the annual awards program for Matthew's theatre (that's "theat-R-E on this side of the pond) training school, Songtime Theatre Arts. For the third year in a row, I will be presenting an award, and with a little luck, for the second year in a row, I will be accepting one, on behalf of the students of the theater department of the Baltimore School for the Arts.

It is a long story...the Reader's Digest Condensed Version is this...I met Matthew Chandler at a New Year's Eve party at his house in London five years ago. I told him I was on the Board of Directors at a theater in Baltimore, Baltimore Theater Project, and we should chat. Six weeks later, I was hosting Matthew and 8 of his best students, and they did a workshop at BTP. In September of 2005 Songtime Theatre Arts premiered their first international production, Willy Russell's "Stags & Hens" at BTP. At the suggestion of Anne Fulweiler, the Managing Director of BTP, we invited the theater students at Baltimore School for the Arts to a performance. And things took on a life of their own from there. It was apparent to Matthew, Donald Hicken (Department Head of the Theater Program at BSfA), and myself that the energy that happened when these two groups of kids collided was something special, and needed to continue. To shorten an even longer story - I am proud to say that the International Exchange Program between the Baltimore School for the Arts Theater Department and Songtime Theare Arts of London is entering its third amazingly successful year.

At last year's Awards Night, I was stunned to find myself on stage, choking back tears in front of over 500 people, accepting the award for Best Production, on behalf of the BSfA and STA, for their joint production of , "The Laramie Project." This year, the second joint production of the Exchange Program, "Elegies," is also up for Best Production. So keep your fingers crossed.

You might be wondering why I am writing about all this on the blog that is supposed to be for my film. Rightly so. But these things are all connected, creative forces bleed into one another. The situation just reminds me that you never know, you never know how the next person you meet may effect the rest of your life. I love introducing creative people that I know and love to each other and then standing back (or standing in the thick of it)and watching what cooks up. I have been witness to some pretty amazing collaborations. But so far, none as great as this.

I have accomplished a lot of things in my life that I am proud of, but being a part of this Exchange Program is simply...beyond words. I can't even talk about it without tearing up. To watch these young people step through doors and have experiences that they could not possibly prepare themselves for, to know that within a span of ten short days, they will come out on the other end a different person, with a cache of knowledge they could not have even known to long for before they absorbed it...I don't know what could be more incredible.

And I don't know if that feeling that I get when I am with these kids can be topped. But it does echo things that are going on with me, and with my film. I have some simply amazing friends that are helping me through this process, supporting me in ways that humble and astound me. And beyond that, I continue to meet new people, people who don't know me from Adam but for some reason are willing to spend time with me, give me their advice and counsel, offer their services and introduce me to more people within the business. So you just never know. Five years from now, perhaps one of these people will be among my closest friends, as Matthew is to me now.

I have never put myself in such a vulnerable position before. That is what is going on here, really. To expose my hopes, my ambitions, my self, to friends and strangers, to brace myself against rejection or even ridicule...only to be met with overwhelming support. I think I may be on to something here. I am so used to being the one trying to connect the dots for other people, it is a different feeling to be, somewhat, at the mercy of others, and find them opening doors for me. But I will happily walk through those doors, and happily thank them. And happily knock on the next one and hope for more of the same.