The journey begins

Tomorrow is the day for the auditions/orientation for Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechuan presented by Full Impact Theater. I have "come out of retirement" to direct this show, long one of my favorites.

Tomorrow is the "beginning" although as the director, I've already been doing a lot of work. I've been researching the play, the era and place, and my particular tweaks on them. I have met with my production assistants. I've visited the two different stages on which this production will be performing.

So, maybe I began when I agreed to direct this play, some months ago.

Or maybe I began back in the 1990s, when I mused aloud how much I'd like to direct this play. Unbeknownst to me at the time, my troupe plotted behind my back to see if they could get together a group of alumni from my youth troupe to surprise me with a production-- but alas, too many had graduated and moved to diverse and distant destinations.

Or maybe I began in 1976, when I attended a summer intensive program at American University in D.C. In  one of our classes, we workshopped this play and I fell in love with its possibilities.

Bringing this play to life, beginning this particular production, who knows when it started?

Tomorrow, though, is a new step.