Christmas thoughts and various sundry...

So, I'm once again home for Christmas. My wife and I have an alternating schedule where one year we spend Christmas at my parents and New Year's at hers, then the next year we switch. So, this year was Christmas in Utica. It was really nice to see the whole family again - even if my sister's kids are a bit of a handful. Now I'm in Shortsville, at the in-laws house, where it is much quieter. We're here until the 2nd, and then its to the grind back home.

The quiet (and heck, even some of the craziness in Utica) has given me some serious time to think about the future and such. As well documented here, I've been feeling increasingly burned out with the theatre back home; for the longest while I was unsure if it was the particular group, the city itself, or even theatre as a whole. I think I've gained some perspective on the situation. Really, its a combination of all three. The group I'm with, while its been fun - I know I'm being increasingly pushed out of the inner circle of the day-to-day and long term machinations of the group; I know I'm useful swinging a hammer and hanging lights - and doing that was fun for a while. But it seems like that's what I'm being included for and not really for my musical skills. Plus, the city has two theatre groups - and despite what a select few have told me, the other group has had no interest in hiring me since March 2005. So, that's not an option. I guess its the culmination of the two that have me tired of the theatre; its very possible that if I worked outside of Denton that I might gain some new perspective and it might be fun again. But, over the last few months, there's been a new itch, so to speak. My degree is in classical performance/conducting, and I haven't really done anything with that since my doctoral lecture/recital back in April of 2008. So, maybe its time to focus on that.

Now, I'm not saying that I plan on quitting the theatre tomorrow and leaving; hell, this may be just idle talk, and I may be too wimpy to do anything about it. But I do have a totally insane idea - now just need to see if I can drag some insane people with me and make a go of it. But it feels like my days in the theatre are numbered and I need to figure out if its on my terms or theirs.