<Continued from ‘Day
102: The Introduction’>
In my previous post I shared how Heather and I were
introduced and how we have a lot in common… and touched on the fact that we had
quite a few friends in common as well.
And, the latter is an extreme understatement. Heather and I had an abnormally high number
of mutual Facebook friends for two people who had not actually met. And throughout the days leading up to our
first date, our first face to face meeting, Heather consulted many of
them. Luckily for me, everyone
unanimously encouraged her to go out with me if she had the chance. (Special thanks goes out to all of those
people… I honestly have no idea who all you are, except for Beth… I know what
you said. And thanks!)
So, to continue… I had returned to Atlanta on May 18th,
2013 for a three week vacation and I was staying at my parents’ house.
On the 20th, the day of my first date with
Heather, my best friend Costello
came over for a visit. Now I have referred
to Costello a number of times in my previous blog, and Costello isn’t just my
best friend, but also Gilliam’s, my youngest son’s, Godfather. Anyway, while we were catching up I mentioned
that I was going out with Heather later that evening and that I was going to
pick her up at The Art Place when she finished auditions for a show she was
choreographing there. And Costello was
like, “Wow… yeah, you’re going to like her.
She’s great. You guys have a lot
in common”.
I guess I should probably mention that Jeff also works for
Cobb County Cultural Affairs and had worked with Heather at The Mable House on
numerous Theatre Project productions.
However, nothing could have prepared me for what Jeff said
next: “Oh, I remember hearing about this…
a while back Robby (Jeff’s supervisor) came back from a staff meeting saying
‘you’ll never guess what we discussed today…’” Apparently… according to Robby, (through
Jeff), fixing up Heather and I had been an agenda item at a Cobb Cultural
Affairs staff meeting. Evidently… lucky
for me… the majority voted in favor of the match. Thus, Elizabeth introduced us via Facebook
Messenger.
So, around 8:30pm, I left my parents’ house and headed for
‘The Art Place’, known lovingly as ‘TAP’ by those who know it well.
Now… at the time… while I was making my way to TAP to pick
up Heather for our first date… the significance of meeting her there, at that
specific location, was the farthest thing in my mind. My appreciation for the location can only be
attributed to time and reflection... because
I had a lot of history with that place.
A. Lot. Of. History.
The first thing that you need to understand is that TAP has
a Black Box Theatre… and that TAP had been deeply influential on my life twice;
prior to my journey to meet Heather:
***** 1 *****
In 1994, my junior year in High School, when I was
dissatisfied with my High School’s drama club I caught wind of a Repertory
theatre program based out of a facility called The Art Place… which I had never
heard of before, but was apparently located only five miles away from my
parents’ house.
It was a special program, based out of TAP, for high school
and college aged actors and they were holding open auditions by appointment
only. Without my parents’ knowledge I
did a very un-JohnPaul like thing… well… it was un-JohnPaul like thing at the
time, when I was an introverted and shy high school JohnPaul… but for those of
you who know me now, you would think, “this is totally a JohnPaul thing to do!”
What did I do? I
simply called and I scheduled an audition.
And then the night of the audition, while at the dinner
table with my parents, I asked if I could borrow the car… that night… on a
school night, which was not really allowed at the time.
My parents looked up from their plates… looked at me… looked
at each other… looked at me again… and my dad asked, “Why?”
Me: “I want to audition for a theatre
company. They are having auditions
tonight. I don’t really know where they
are located, but I was told it’s next to the Mountain View library. I called yesterday to schedule an appointment. It’s in an hour.”
My parents looked at each other and without a word my dad
reached into his pocket and slid his keys across the table to me.
Needless to say, I found TAP… and when my name was called, I
walked into that Blackbox Theatre for the first time… auditioned… and made it
into the company… and remained with them for the next year and a half; until I
left to study theatre at the College of Charleston (CofC). And to this day, I credit my time with that
company for getting me into college, on scholarship. And my time at CofC is what prepared me for
what happened next…
***** 2 *****
I moved back to the Atlanta area in 2000, after I completed
my studies at CofC. I was armed with a
degree in theatre performance and direction… and… well… nothing to do…
During my first nine months back I had a myriad of
jobs: Hollywood Video, then a temp at
CNN, the Atlanta Hawks, and Racetrac Petroleum.
I even landed a job at Cartoon Network, as a low level producer, until
the position was dissolved, before I even started, due to the AOL/Time Warner
merger.
When the gig at Cartoon Network disappeared I pretty much
hated life. And let’s face it… I really
needed a creative outlet… the temp jobs were killing me.
And it all came to a head when I had stumbled across an audition
notice for “Brighten Beach Memoirs” to be performed at TAP. I had already done the show, playing the part
of the older brother Stanley. And I knew
if I auditioned that I would get the chance to play Stanley again.
Now, that isn’t ego talking.
It was a statistical guess.
You see, the part of Stanley is a supporting role and the
lead character in the show is actually the younger brother, named Eugene. When I saw the audition notice and knowing
the demographics of where ‘TAP’ is located, I predicted that they would mainly get
high schoolers coming out to audition for Stanley; which meant that they would
need to cast a middle schooler or a very young looking high school student for Eugene. But if I showed up, having already played the
part and having not aged out of the role yet, they could cast me as Stanley and
then cast more mature high schooler as Eugene, thus having a more reliable
actor in the role.
So I went to TAP, stepped into that Blackbox Theatre, after
an almost six year hiatus, and auditioned.
And as predicted, I ended up being cast as Stanley… and little did I
know… that audition would end up changing the direction of my life, giving it
more of a foundation.
You see, “Brighten Beach Memoirs” was directed by Nelah, who
was now the managing director of TAP.
And Elizabeth, who was now supervising ALL of the Cultural Affairs
facilities for Cobb County, was also sitting at the table helping Nelah cast
the show.
In the end, Nelah and I got along fantastically working on
‘Brighten Beach’… and as we approached opening night, Nelah offered me a
part-time job, which I famously accepted before Nelah could get all the words
out. She reenacts this moment to this
day. “JohnPaul would you like a part-tim-…
YES!”
This part-time job led to gigs teaching at two different
local high schools and various camps, to a fulltime job at TAP, which led to
Elizabeth promoting me to the managing director of a different Cultural Affairs
facility called ‘The Mable House’, and
while there I started ‘The Theatre
Project’… the one Heather would one day join… a gig that would also connect
her with Nelah and TAP.
And after seven fantastic years with Cobb, I left to join
the Foreign Service. But little did I
know, at the time, before I left, the path had already been laid for Heather
and I to find each other… when the time was right…
***** 3 *****
So… there I was… it was 2013, five years after I left my job
with Cobb County, at 9pm on the 20th of May… I arrived at The Art
Place. I milled around in the lobby
until the auditions ended and then walked into that Blackbox Theatre… to find…
Nelah, who had hired me all those years ago. She greeted me with a hug and a how do you do
and told me, “Heather is in the dressing rooms changing for your date!”
Nelah and I caught up for a little while… and then I heard
footsteps behind me… and Nelah said, “There she is.”
And there I was… standing in that same Blackbox Theatre that
I had first performed in my junior year of High School. The same Blackbox Theatre that prepared me to
study acting in college on scholarship.
The same Blackbox Theatre that I auditioned in for the role of Stanley…
the role that led me to my first real job and career. And at that moment… as Nelah said, “There
she is…” I turned… and standing in that
same dang Blackbox Theatre… and I laid my eyes on my future wife for the first
time. Who greeted me with a hug in the
middle of that Blackbox Theatre stage that had changed the trajectory of my
life two previous times… and without knowing… that moment would be number
three.
