It’s Sunday, laundry day at our house.
It is my first day off in a week, the last thing I want to do is laundry. I want to sit in the sun, reading a book, sipping something lovely while the cool breeze whispers over my skin. But I am inside doing laundry. Today, however, I am looking forward to it.
The past several months of trying to get a theatre company off the ground has been challenging – stops and starts, yeses and nos, hugs and tears, the ups and downs of working towards a BIG goal with a group of people. Everyday, it is a part of your daily routine from the moment your eyes begrudgingly pry open (haven’t been getting as much sleep lately, weird…), to the time your weary body lies down. Phone calls to be made, emails to send, texts to read, lists of “to dos” to be updated or items scratched off. Did I mention rehearsals haven’t even begun?
So today, I have decided that laundry is better than starting a theatre company. Why? Let me tell you:
1. You can do laundry by yourself – sure, you can invite someone to help, but do your really want to? They might want to do it there way, when you know your way is best.
2. Laundry is predictable – open washing machine, put in clothes, put in soap, press start. Sure, you are sometimes thrown a few loops – kleenex left in a pocket, velcro opening and sticking to the wrong thing – but even what can go wrong is predictable.
3. There is no learning curve to laundry – once someone explains that you separate your whites, darks and colours, that’s about it. Sure, you can get experimental with bleach and fabric softener, but at least those come with instructions.
4. You are the expert at laundry, you don’t need to consult with people – it’s a one person show! You don’t need someone to design how you load the washing machine or choreograph how to transfer the clothes to the dryer. It’s just you, which makes scheduling meetings quite easy!
5. You can leave laundry unattended – for a loooong time! You can leave the washing in the machine for a few days and no harm, no foul. If you somehow divert your attention from the laundry to attend to other things, it is exactly the same as the way you left it. It may be a bit stinky, but hey, you can easily fix that problem by just washing it again!
Laundry…
Solitary…
Predictable…
Theatre Company...
Collaborative…
Unpredictable in every way…
But what a theatre company is, that laundry is not, is rewarding. The efforts of so many people towards a common goal. The individual talents brought together to fulfill a vision. A chance to feed your artistic soul by exploring in an environment supported by many who ultimately want nothing but success – theirs and yours. When you think that you are working hard, but realize that the next person is working just as hard, if not harder.
So today I will do both laundry and Classic Chic work and I will be thankful for what they both bring to my life.
Joanna – Classic Chic Producer
PS – Here is a picture of my cat because I read that blogs that have a cat picture are more likely to be shared (see point 3)…
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