It’s a cliche in the leadership / persona development world, which I spend a decent amount of time in with books and podcasts. I find them helpful, and inspiring, but also distracting. The truth is, I have enough information.

Well, maybe not enough to thrive, but I definitely have enough to move forward. Sometimes I fee I’m inundated with advice, when what I need to be doing is simply . . . doing.

Case in point, I hiked up Stone Mountain last week. It was exhausting. I am 318 pounds, so a lot of what I do is exhausting. I had the idea to start a blog, using Stone Mountain as a litmus test to how my fitness and weight loss efforts were going . . . I was going to start this that night.

I didn’t.

And it still hasn’t happened.

The moral, do it now. Do it now. Do it now. Do it now.

And taking my advice, I’m going to write on this outline for a screenplay that a friend of mine is interested in.

MHH

One drawback, however, is that my Mom is around to see all the ways that her son fails. When she lived apart from us, these mistakes were invisible. I’m thinking of mainly small stuff. Cussing. Messy shirts. Being impatient with Hank. Being lazy.

Of course, she gets to see good stuff too. But, I know I feel when i see Hank not living up to his potential as a six year old. What must that feel like when your son is forty?

And that’s when I remember the love. The love I feel for Hank is the love Mom feels for me. The love Hank feels for me, is the love I feel for Mom.

I am not yet living up to my potential. I am working on that. But I am loved. And I love.

And that makes it all much, much, more than okay.

MHH

We had our monthly company meeting – we’re still in the middle of our branding conversations. I think we have a pretty good handle on who we are – even we’d like to be – now working on how to communicate that. It’s very interesting how certain words can affect people so strongly.

Besides, the meeting, however, there was also of course, The Post Card Plays This is part of our ________ series (still no name for it yet.) This was a follow up to our donor’s only event in December where we’re doing specialty programming for only one night. This time, we gave four playwrights a prompt of a post card, actors to write for, and a few weeks to get something done. The results were impressive.

It as great to watch what these talented, fun people can do. And the atmosphere was amazing. For those that don’t know, Brother Jimmy’ is North Carolina themed bbq place – they have a bunch of locations including one in the carribean. Its not the sort of place that you’d expect to find downtown theater – even in their basement located near Union Square. But it works for us. The BJ people are amazingly nice and the atmosphere is electric. Think crowded live rock show.

The rest of the trip was devoted to meetings. We’ve chosen our next play (annoucement soon) and are interviewing directors. Again, amazing to meet so many cool people with different ideas, backgrounds, stories, opinions. One of the very few drawbacks of working within a company is that sometimes you can limit yourself from working with some of the other great people out there. These interviews reminded me of that. Wish I could hire all of them. Maybe we’ll find ways to bring in others more.

I am now back in Atlanta. Adjusting to my other joys and responsibilities. I have an feature film audition this week, and of course need to be always writing/creating.

More to come . . .

MHH

I’m really hoping that both get chosen . . . one of the joys is seeing what other people do with your stuff. Almost always surprising.

Here’s hoping . . .

Go Team!

MHH

It was a truly special production to be involved in. I am very proud of Heidi and 7 Stages, Topher, Justin, and the entire cast and crew. I can only the next play I am in will have as much to say about life, and that the cast will have as much joy working on it.

Next for me, is writing – and lots of it. Concentrating on working every day on one of three projects: my Irish play, the 40 Weeks Screenplay, or the Bar Jokes webseries. Need to have completed first drafts by August on all three.

And of course, I am auditioning. Had to turn one down today because I’ll be out of town during the shoot dates.

Things are brimming with InViolet. Still doing branding work, planning a huge announcement (soon!), and working on THE POST CARD PLAYS at the end of April.

Much, much to do.

So far, no post show depression. Though it does feel sad to wake up and not immediately run lines.

MHH

What an interesting experience the first two weeks of Angry Fags has been. On the positive side, I am now convinced that we have not ruined Topher’s amazing script. That’s a relief. It is an impressive play, but one that has challenges to stage, and I am happy to report that Justin and Heidi and the gang have delivered.

And I think the actors have stepped up as well. Several of these roles are particularly challenging, and it has been inspirational to see how everyone just went for it with no apologies or expectation of anything less that success.

More so than other plays that I’ve been in recently, the reaction from night to night has been a real treat. There is so much here – humor, violence, love, hate – on any given night, the audience’s reaction will be dramatically different. I’m not talking that they’ll laugh in different places or some will be quiet and others boisterous, I’m talking seriously different points of view on the story being told and the joy and pain being felt by the characters.

Last nights crowd was so quiet, at times it felt like a speed through (it’s a long play, so we REALLY try to earn our moments). It didn’t really feel like they were into it. But then, at the end . . . gasps. I love it.

Industry night is tonight – one would presume a boisterous crowd but with this play, you never know.

MHH

And then it was over.

Yesterday I was plain ole depressed. I felt directionless. Love less. Everything was a battle and I had no plan.

Luckily, I had to go to rehearsal where I got to play for the first time in this process (it’s a small role). I left the theater happy and energized. So much so that I finally finished filming principal photography on my January learning project.

Lesson? When not feeling great. ACT! Do something, even if it’s not acting.

More to come . . .

Go team

MHH

The read went pretty well. Feeling lucky to be working at 7 Stages with Justin and of course with Topher. This is the second year in a row that January has had me working with him. It’s a good model for success.

Starting the Sam Christensen workshop this weekend and a feature film audition today. Could be a fun few days . . .

More to come . . .

MHH

From there, I hit a much needed Starbucks – caffein and wifi, thank you. I did my Branding homework for our meeting tonight. Very, very exciting. My book, PRIMAL BRANDING, really got me thinking about the company, where we want to go, and how to communicate. The meeting should be very fun as we’re all giving a report on the books we read, and then are going to talk about them. What makes InViolet special? Why should people pay money to see our plays?

Fun things to ponder . . .

More soon.

MHH