Bigger things

And it begins, another year of Fringing. Both Ducks and Wallflowers opened yesterday ... and they went off withoug a hitch. Well, that's a lie, there were little bobbles, but when you only get 2.75 hours to load in your set, set light levels and specials, run a Q-Q, dress rehearsal (if you're super lucky) and load out, a few bobbles on opening night are par for the course.

Seriously, it was a great day. We had a great crowd for Ducks, which suprised me. I've been weary coming into this Kid's show thing - "do people actually go to shows between noon and 3 in the afternoon?" We opened at 1:45, and the answer is yes!

Wallflowers, which had me up all night with dread of a possible failure on my part, felt amazing. I think we must have reached that point where we REALLY needed an audience. I'm not kidding when I say I was worried about it - I was WORRIED about it. Plus Prokosh predicted on the first day of the Fringe that we'd get Best of Fest, which is great, but talk about adding a little more pressure to the pile! Thankfully there were only about 30'ish people there, which is a good crowed and not as scary for an opening night. I'm not sure this play will get the Best of Fest. Yes, Primrose has won in 3 times before, but with much lighter shows. Last years Fat Tuesday was a comedy about an uptight girl heading off to Mardi Gras and discovering the liberation of beads, flashing, and cutting loose. Wallflowers deals with the complex issues around date rape. Flashing vs. date rape, very different genres. But it is a great show and I do hope that we get generous houses. I love that both shows I'm doing this year have such positive messages, that they actually mean something. It's a great thing. Plus I saw Brent's one-man, which was awesome (so proud of you Brent!) And I had my first evening of beer-tenting. It was a great day all around.

But I've felt like such an ass being so involved in Fringe prep and it's all consuming ways, while this horrible outbreak has started in the middle east. I mean, really, do reviews matter when people are suffering in Lebanon. I can't really take a side exactly in this one, although I'm most sympathetic to the Lebanese. Yes Israel has the right to defend itself, but they were clearly looking for the first opportunity they had to exert themselves as a military power over Hezbollah. I'm not going to pretend to be super knowledgeable about politics in the middle-east, but my feeling is that Israel will not get what it wants from this fight. They're just giving another generation of Lebanese and Palestinian children a reason to hate them, and they will reap what they sow. Yes, they will probably weaken Hezbollah for now, but by fostering hate they're fertilizing the soil for the next crop (I'm bad with metaphores). My conclusion: Israel has the right to defend itself, they have suffered greatly for generations. Should they not, then, by sympathetic to others who are suffering? Was there no other way to avoid this use of military force? Will they get what they want? Do they even know what they want?

We live in confusing times, with many shades of grey. I am going to enjoy this year's fringe, but my mind will always be putting things into perspective. Everyone involved in this year's Fringe has put in hours upon hours of work, and we deserve to enjoy ourselves, read reviews, see too many shows, drink too many beers. But in the grand scheme, it doesn't really matter. A bad review, a good show, it's all relative. We need to enjoy it, but know that we have a bigger purpose in this world, and bigger things to do with our lives.