The things we make...

In undergrad, I had a conversation with a set designer friend of mine who was finishing a Shaker table for a period design class.  It was a lovely piece of furniture and, as I admired it, he said to me "I couldn't do what you do.  I have to be able to make something I can touch with my hands."  While I am ridiculously enthralled by the act and craft of performing onstage, there are few tangible things to take away from each show.  Playbills, ticket stubs, pictures, friendships...  Scrapbook fodder and memories aside, sometimes one longs to make something that lasts longer than six or eight weeks, 8 shows a week (2 matinee).

I'm not one to crow about my achievements because they seem kind of small sometimes.  I prefer to trumpet the successes of my friends (who are brilliant, talented, gorgeous, bound to change the world and have good taste in friends), but there is one thing I helped to bring to life that I am infinitely, extraordinarily proud of.  In 2007, a group of folks came together to put together an improv troupe on the University of Georgia campus.  In 2013, they are still going strong.  The group's alumni have gone on to success outside of the relative safety of UGA and some are professional actors and improvisors now, themselves.  They've won awards, they've performed before hundreds of people on and off campus and are a thriving group of dedicated artists.

Improv Athens, ladies and gentlemen.  I helped to make this.  And it's one of the best things I've ever done.