Roger that, Houston. We are go for launch.

"It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small." -- Neil Armstrong

Recently, I made reference to some news that my friend Michael and I were anxious to hear. And we heard. Right on schedule. And it was good (well, his was bittersweet at the time, but it got sweeter - you can check his blog later to see what I'm talking about). And as the reality of the aforementioned news begins to really sink in, I find comfort in the truth of Neil's words.

Oh, the news? It would help if I told everyone, wouldn't it? For those of you who don't know, I have been chosen to direct a play next season for Curtain Players Theater. The play is DARKSIDE by Ken Jones, and I'm still kinda thunderstruck that I've been handed the reigns to such an amazing play. As soon as I read it I wanted to work on this show.

What if there had been an Apollo 18? One more trip, a few more small steps and giant leaps...what if? Darkside centers around an astronaut, Bill Griffin as he orbits the moon on this imaginative journey. Somewhere on the lunar surface, his crew mates, Ed and Gunner, sit in their lunar module, potentially stranded after a routine launch misfires. As Bill repeatedly orbits around to the dark side of the moon, we get flashes to the weeks and months prior to the launch and see the surprising events leading up to this mission. It's a suspense thriller at its core as Ed and Gunner work with NASA to save themselves as Bill can only wait, along with the audience, to find out their fate as he comes to terms with his own past and mistakes.

Now that I've captured your interest, I should let you know that the curtain won't be going up until March 2, 2007. Not to say I won't be busy between now and then prepping, casting, and rehearsing the show. As it was just pointed out to me, auditions are nine months away - frightening and exhilarating all at the same time. I was afraid I might scare away my stage manager, Sara, when I called her with a partial crew list the day after I was tapped and started asking about obtaining scripts and the like. She wasn't scared and she's been wonderfully supportive about me directing my first full-length show.

I've always had a place in my heart for anything having to with space. Do you know how many times I've seen SpaceCamp? Never been to the real thing, but for most of my life I wanted to be an astronaut. It was the six year old in me who to this day aches at the images of Challenger and Columbia, who collected old LIFE magazines that were published as Apollo 11 soared to the heavens, and who hopes beyond hope that civilian space travel won't always be the stuff of dreams and Hollywood. So, needless to say, taking on a play about astronauts as my first mainstage directing gig shouldn't surprise anyone.

And this is where I feel like Neil. I've been granted this great opportunity, being asked to shepherd a show from start to finish for Curtain Players, and while I am the director and call all of the shots, I can't help but feel like I'm just a tiny player in what will hopefully turn out to be a monumental experience for a select group of people. Theatre is very collaborative to me, something I think we exemplified during Inventing Van Gogh and White Russian (two shows in which I acted here at Curtain Players this season) and I cannot wait to sit down with a cast and crew and create something that we never forget.

Michael Parsons (you probably know his name by now, devoted reader) was offered to direct To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday in the Summer of 2007. It will be quite a show. Michael is a pretty damn good director. He's only going to get better and I hope he'll let me work with him in some capacity on that show (though not as an actor). I've had the privilege of working with him as an actor and a director (him directing me in a couple shows and acting alongside him in others) and I say with conviction that he's quite wonderful at both and working with Michael is always something to remember as he brings a passion to these crafts that reminds me why I'm in theater in the first place.

Upon reading this he will demur and say I'm too kind. I'm not too kind to Michael - he deserves his praise and I shall heap it upon him without hesitation; and being the good friend that he is, he should know that while I can be politically correct - you know...shake all the right hands, say all the right things, laugh at all the right jokes - I'm much more the brutally honest type than people realize; but then aren't we all when it comes to our best good friends? If not, we should be. Anything less than honesty isn't friendship, it's polite.

Though it's nearly a year away, I hope you'll find the time to find your way to Galena, Ohio and reserve a seat in our little theater sometime in March and again in July of 2007. Not to be a salesman, but while you're at it there's a whole season's worth or entertainment between now and then that you might want to look into as well.

One final thought before heading off to bed. Apollo, in Greek myth, is the god of the Sun. And each day he pulls the sun across the sky in a fiery chariot. His twin sister, Artemis, is the goddess of the Moon; and this Wednesday, March 29th, close to 6:00 a.m. EST, somewhere on the other side of the planet, the gods will meet and the sun will find itself in total eclipse while we sleep comfortably in our beds awaiting our alarm clocks to summon us to another day at work or school or wherever. I, myself, plan on getting up a little after 5:00 a.m., logging onto NASA.gov and watching the entire event live. Why? It's not often that we bear witness to the celestial events occuring around us every day. Be they of god or science, this is one that I don't need a billion-dollar telescope to see and I don't have to be orbiting the Earth at 17,000 mph either. Nope. All I need is my computer and my wireless network to be working, and I get to watch an event that reminds me of how very, very small I am in this magnificent 'verse of ours.