From The Director...
Every winter Streetcar starts a new project. We audition in the cold darkness of January and begin those first tentative music rehearsals in a chilly room, bundled in baggy sweatshirts. New people sit off to the side of the group, while the old familiar faces greet each other with warm expectation. We notice who is missing... We play a couple getting to know you games and share theatre war stories. As the days go by and turn in to weeks, we learn. About the show. The process, each other and ourselves.
And then it happens. It does almost every show. Someone in the company begins to struggle or at least begins to share that struggle with me, the director. And then the cast. Over the years I have had people tell me that they are getting a divorce, they lost their job, a family member is gravely ill. That they have been kicked out of their home, that they are dying... I have even been left a suicide note.
Each time, and with each new show something amazing happens next. That group of rag tag folks looking for a place to have some fun, share a hidden talent, or fulfill a life long dream, becomes a family. One that holds those people up. That makes food, brings laughter, gives rides and hugs and hope. We help each other get through. We are a welcoming community that doesn't give a hoot what God you worship, what color your skin is, who you sleep with, how old or young you are, male or female. Do we have our fair share of frustrations and disagreements? Sure, what family doesn't? But in the end, we protect, defend, and support each other.
I am lucky to be a part of such a place. Blessed that my kids have always had 8 moms, wonderful big brothers, fun loving aunties and uncles from all walks of life. People that bring things to their lives that my husband and I could never do by ourselves. We don't have a lot of blood family, but we do have this one.
