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For the past four weeks, I’ve spent most of my spare time working on the production of Hallowed Ground, an exploration of text, produced by The Dirty Blondes. This is the second production I’ve done with The Dirty Blondes, first being a 24 hour festival, Deadline.

Before I discovered Professional Writing or even thought about a career as a web developer, I was sure I would be working in the theater. I acted in plays and musicals through high school and college; I single-handedly costumed Michigan State’s opera for a production of Susannah; I helped stage manage a rather elaborate production of Tommy the Rock Opera. After signing up for two many events and working with a few rather difficult directors, I took a break from the stage. My last production was acting in Reefer Madness in January 2010, and I finally took a breath.

Maybe theater wasn’t where I belonged after all.

Rehearsing the choreography for Hallowed Ground

But it always draws you back in. What I loved about theater is the opportunity to express creativity, and share it with a large group of people. Theater is created for the purpose of sharing.

That’s the same reason I love development. Building websites is so very rarely done in a bubble — it’s done for the watchful eyes of the public. I don’t build a website to have it sit on my hard drive, seen by no one but myself.

The best part about theater is the one thing I miss in my web cave: collaboration. Even a one (wo)man show has a team of people behind the scenes. Actors, directors, set designers, lighting technicians, gaffers, etc all come together to devise an experience for an audience. Everyone in the theater has a common goal: to have an experience. An experience is something that can never be taken away, something that stays with you.

I’m proud, honored, and humbled to have been asked to be a part of Hallowed Ground. I am eternally grateful that I’ve had this opportunity to re-discover my love of theater and find a way back in.

I don’t think I’d ever want to do it full-time. But I’ll be back. You can take the girl out of the theater, but you can’t take the theater out of the girl.