Cedar Springs.

Depression is such a cruel punishment. There are no fevers, no rashes, no blood tests to send people scurrying in concern. Just the slow erosion of self, as insidious as any cancer. And like cancer, it is essentially a solitary experience. A room in hell with only your name on the door.

I spent two weeks in Cedar Springs over spring break.
I don't want to go into it.
I don't want to explain it.
I don't want to have to tell anyone why.


But from a strictly theatrical point of view, the hospital and Cedar Springs are two of the BEST places to find good characters. I found myself observing most of the time-- observing the little nuances that people do, the little habits they have, the attitudes of certain people.

I don't know why it struck me so much at the hospital... maybe because nobody there has anything to hide, their greatest secret has already been exposed. So they are just themselves. They just act the way they act without worrying about what anyone else is thinking of them. It was a foreign world to me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is.... theater isn't about ACTING.

It's about NOT HIDING.

Showing yourself. Showing your character.