Sometimes truly wonderful things happen to me that I have done absolutely nothing to deserve, but I accept them as pure happenstance occurring to a very lucky and fortuitous person.

I just got word yesterday the my latest play, Blessed Event, which is a drama about the dying day of a patriarch of a very dysfunctional, French Canadian family, is scheduled for a staged, dramatic reading at the wonderful, state-of-the-art, Burton Leavitt Theater on Main Street, Willimantic, CT.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with theater, allow me to explain. A staged, dramatic reading consists of a cast of actors sitting on the stage and reading their roles from the script. There is not scenery, no sets, no props, no costumes, no effects. Just actors reading their roles passionately.  There is also another person on stage reading the stage directions and set descriptions to the audience.

The purposes of the reading are three-fold:

1.      To entertain an audience. (Believe it or not, a good staged reading can be VERY entertaining.)

2.      To gauge audience response so that the theater company can determine whether or not the play, which is usually a brand new one, would be worth the work to produce it as a full-fledged production.

3.      To assist the play in his or her efforts to rewrite the script and improve upon it.

On the night of the staged reading, which is Saturday, September 12^th, there will be a question and answer period afterwards between the audience, the actors and the playwright.

With the last play I wrote, The Cultivation of Succulents, there was also a staged, dramatic reading with a Q & A session afterwards. (And, just like that one, the actors will have three rehearsals with this one.) The audience response to the reading was so positive that the theater company who hosted the reading decided right then and there to stage the show as a full-blown production.

The experience of watching a script that I wrote come to life on the stage is indescribable. I often sit in the audience and marvel at the show, and it is as if somebody else wrote the thing. When I watch it, I laugh and cry with the audience as if it is the first time I’ve ever seen it.

Watching characters who existed solely in my imagination only a short time ago take physical shape and interact with other on stage is nothing short of amazing. It is as if I am watching my life unfold in front of my eyes, (because each character does have something of ME in them), and, at the same time, it is like glimpsing somebody else’s interpretation of life (since the personalities of the characters are the result of a collaboration between the playwright, the director and the actors.)

It is a creative and artistic experience that is unlike any other because I get to watch and listen to the effects that my words and thoughts are having on an audience at the exact moment that they are happening!

Nothing short of amazing.

I received the news of that the theater company had approved the staged reading and set a date for it via email while I was at work. To say the least, that news really made my day!

To top off an already spectacular day, I remembered on the drive home that my two oldest grand daughters (ages 8 and 6) would be at the house when I got there because they are spending the weekend with us.

As I got out of my car and started heading up to my house, I looked down on the paved walkway and saw large, multi-colored chalk words that said, “I Love you, Grampie!!!!!” (Pay no attention to the misspelling) and “I have missed you!!!!!” These words were surrounded by various rainbows, smiley faces, hearts and flowers.

 I smiled at all of this, and I felt a warmth build up in my heart that overflowed into my eyes and down my cheeks.

Tell me that I am not the luckiest guy who ever breathed air.