@alex.r.gold always makes fun of me for these, but this one is worth it.⁣ ⁣ in 2012, i was a young actor understanding that acting wasn’t my thing and starting to have an inkling directing might be. i heard about a program @sdc_union offered that allowed early career directors the chance to observe in a professional room, and i submitted an application, not thinking i’d get close to being selected. in my essay, i wrote about how much i wanted, as a young artist who ate musicals for breakfast/lunch/dinner, to learn from a director who worked on lots of musicals on a play, knowing this also felt like a faraway goal. it was completely bonkers landing the first observership of the season, where i’d watch the great @marciamilgromdodge direct the premiere of a play at the pasadena playhouse (next to my dear @scootydubs). ⁣ ⁣ that august, i shipped off to california for a month, where i stayed with an uncle in the valley because the $250/week i was making wasn’t enough for more than the car i had to rent. over the course of 5 weeks, i heard so many words i use today for the very first time (i will never forget hearing ‘LORT’ for the first time there) and i came back equipped with the knowledge that i wanted to be a director (marcia’s room is THAT good).⁣ ⁣ flash forward 10 years to the *exact* season slot (time is absolutely a circle), and i get to shout from the rooftops that i’m going back to pasadena to direct a play i’ve dreamed about since i read it in march 2020. i feel indescribably full to return to my home state to direct for the first time, at the state theatre of california no less, and to share the electric, muscular, tragic, and hopeful dreams of these three characters @martyna_majok masterfully crafted, especially with both of my parents in the audience, upon whose american dreams my entire life has been built. ⁣ ⁣ ‘sanctuary city’, @pasadenaplayhouse, let’s goooo.