"Dreams come true here, just like in Disney Land"

As I mentioned in my previous post, last night was our company potluck. Almost everyone is here at this point, so there were a lot of new faces. The idea of the potluck--besides eating-- is to get everyone together to meet each other and to be welcomed to the theatre and to Creede. There is a lot of talking and a lot of introductions and some stories from various people who have either been here for a long time or are fairly new to Creede but have had an experience worth sharing. One of the people who talked last night was Renee who is the Education Director and has been here for ten years this season. She is a wonderful person with a very contagious spirit and said a lot of really great things about Creede and why she is here, including the quote that is the title of this post. I wish I could remember everything that was said because there were a lot of great and profound statements about this place that I love that express it in ways that I have a hard time doing.

Another person who spoke was Mandy Patinkin, whose name may or may not be familiar to many of you. If it is not, perhaps this will refresh your memory: "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die." Yes, Inigo from The Princess Bride. Of course, he has done many things since then but nothing as memorable as that. He also happens to be Creede's big claim to fame. He was an actor here in the 70's and he and his wife still come to visit on a regular basis. He also said some great things about Creede including the fact that this is his favorite place he has ever acted. Coming from someone who has done as much as he has, that shows just what kind of affect this place has on people.

As much as I have been happy to be here, it multiplies that feeling by a lot being in a room full of people who love this place as much if not more than I do. It's hard to explain the feeling to people who can't have the experience of being welcomed so warmly and emotionally by people that you work with at a job that only lasts about four months. But we are all such a tight family of people from all over the country who come to this tiny place to make theatre together, it is hard not to feel strongly about it all. Not to mention, it's not every job orientation where they have to explain the dangers of bears and mountain lions and getting stranded on a cliffside or getting caught in a lightning storm on a mountain. My love for this place grows every day and I'm so glad for another summer to fall even more in love and make more friends and build my anticipation even more to come back next summer. I can only hope that these posts give you all even a small idea of how fantastic this place is and how happy it makes me to be here. And maybe some day some of you can even come and see the magic for yourselves! It's an open invitation to anyone who wants to come visit me!

To conclude....Even though I've been working already for about a month, now that everyone has arrived the season is getting into full swing and things will really start getting crazy and fun and busy and exciting and all those conflicting emotions that come with living in a place where it is so easy to have enough fun to make up for all the hard work you're doing.