Theater Dreams
This week's lingering thought.
First and foremost: your weekly Nyx Pic.
We had a rare sunny winter day in Seattle this past Sunday, and so Nyx and I made a little pilgrimage to Kerry Park. In my first stint in Seattle, I had lucked into a tiny studio apartment 5 minutes walk from there, and this view was part of our daily routine. We hadn’t visited since moving back to Seattle almost a year ago (what is time?), so it was fun to seize the inspiration and opportunity to go. It was a fun little jaunt down nostalgia lane, though on a rare good weather day like Sunday, we had to evade the hordes of similar-minded folks to snap this quick picture. The trip ended with an outdoors sushi meal from one of my favorite places, and Nyx may or may not have gotten a bit of salmon sashimi, as a treat.
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A little Thought has burrowed itself into my head.
It’s taken root in the soft, squishy tissue, in the deep part of the brain where dreams and aspirations live, safely cocooned from the demands of Logic and Reason. It sticks its tongue out at Practicality, and gives Wisdom the middle finger as it relentlessly pours itself into my ear.
Someday I want to live above a tiny theater space that I own and run and put on little plays and host readings by playwright friends and is the home to a resident improv troupe that I help coach or curate. A creative home for artists, and also a home for me. Wouldn’t that be neat? Wouldn’t that be swell?
I tried to talk the Thought down. What are the chances of finding a mix-use property like that? How expensive would that be? Building out a theater is a ton of work and makes no money. You’ve been a part of enough companies (and ran one yourself!) to know this. There’s a pandemic that’s completely changed how and if we gather. Are you really going to try to make a space now?
And yet.
And. Yet.
The Thought has burrowed deep, far deeper than I expected, and reached a tendril into my heart, where it’s quickly metastasizing into a Dream.
Sometimes, Dreams are not so dangerous. They can be contained, placed in a glass mason jar and set on a shelf to be admired from afar, an isolated possibility with no roots in Reality.
But sometimes, Reality comes tromping in and crushes that glass jar, rudely grabs hold of your Dream and shakes it with the relentless energy of a Very Real Possibility, or a Rare and Unique Opportunity.
All this is to say:
No you’re touring a live/work space tomorrow.
No you’re daydreaming irresponsibly about it, even as you know there would be a million reasons why it doesn’t work out, why it’s a bad idea, why now is not the time.
It’s too small. The cost is too high. The HOA fees are ridiculous. You’d need to do some serious renovations. Could you even get a loan? Your day job’s policies on remote work are still evolving. It’s located between a Tattoo Parlor and a Smoke Shop with no parking (but it’s also across the street from a bangin’ good noodle spot…)
And yet.
These moments are some of the most exciting: when the Dream begins to take its first tentative steps towards reality. When the fog obscuring the pathway thins, just for a moment, and you see the potential way forward.
There’s a million ways these moments turn out to be false starts, for that moment to reveal itself as a dud or dead end in disguise. But, until it does…
It doesn’t hurt to dream.
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What’s been on your mind this week? You can reply to the email if you want, or leave a comment on the site. <3