My former assistant was just awarded a MacArthur "Genius" grant

Okay, that is a bit of an exaggeration; David Cromer wasn't really my assistant. He and I were assistant co-producers for a show presented by the Museum of Science and Industry in 1999. The show was an original script developed through improv about the nature and properties of light. Cromer was in the cast as Sir Isaac Newton and was in charge of the cast of six after the show opened. I was the stage manager and in charge of keeping the technical side of things running.

The show called "See the Light" ran all summer long at MSI, six days a week, with two and three show days--kind of like a theme park. I can't quite recall, but I think we did something like 180 performances.

It was hell most of the time. It was an add-on ticket to museum admission, so very few people bought in. We had very small houses--often 10 or 12, which did nothing for cast morale. Neither Cromer nor I were very good at counter-acting that problem. We were both too cynical and smart-alecky to try and do anything about it. Fortunately, we had a smart, funny, talented, and professional cast, who kept their heads up no matter how deep the water got.

Obviously, David Cromer has gone on to much bigger and better projects and he deserves the recognition he is receiving. He is a very good director and works well with actors. While I did not see his production of OUR TOWN, I have only heard good things about it and his furthur stripping down of the stripped down play.

I'm resisting the urge to be cynical and smart-alecky.