Time.
It's all over the place, man. You can't escape it, either. You don't want to be early for work, but you hate to stay late. It dictates when we sleep, tells us when to eat, and is always there to make us nervous during tests. The cold, unrelenting fingers of time have even taken hold of that most glorious of social networking sites - Facebook.
Time takes no prisoners and shows no mercy.
Time is inescapable.
You want to know another secret about time? It helps heal wounds.
You see, I went through some pretty dark and angsty stuff a few years ago when my mother passed away. All the typical grief, negativity and apathy that comes with a traumatic life event. So when one of my best buddies from high school asked me (for, like, the fifth time) to write a play for him four or five months after my mother's passing, I felt like saying, "Stuff it. I'm a sad little bubble boy who hates the world."
But despite the way I felt, the story started coming to me. It came in goofy bits and pieces and for a long time, I didn't know if I could keep it up. The funny just wasn't there. And that was scary.
I kept writing, and rewriting, and giving up a little bit here and there. Then my buddy always prodded me back to the play. I published a few books and short stories while I was still trying to get my head around this thing that was supposed to be fun and upbeat and positive.
It felt like I was on an impossible quest in some dark, rain-soaked fantasy world and my goal was to find the rare baby unicorn who burped rainbows and smelled like cotton candy. Only, my path was blocked by looming mountains and ominous storm clouds that seemed to just hover over my head no matter where I traveled.
Then one day, almost a year and a half later, the clouds went away and I stumbled upon that tiny unicorn of awesomesauce. The sadness had just kind of disappeared and, to my surprise, life was still happening. And in great ways, to boot. I immediately knew that meant one thing - the show had to go on.
I dug my heels into the dirt and I started writing for realz. My goal was to get the play finished soon enough for my buddy to produce it at his theater this fall.
Lo and behold - it's finished. Ladies and gentlemen, "Public Domain - A Stage Play" is alive and kicking.
My first full length stage play will be produced in late September at the Central Christian Theatre in McPherson, KS. Soon after, I plan to make the script available for purchase on Amazon; my goal is to toss it around to some of my other friends who happen to work in or for production companies. And beyond that?
Only time will tell.
