Passion Play: A Personal Connection

To start off this production blog for Passion Play, I thought I'd post what I wrote for my Director's Note in the program. I love almost everything about this play, but there's definitely a personal emotional connection for me in P's story in the third part:

There were four of us who were best friends through college, and Johnny was the funny one. He had a quick wit and a foul mouth and a sensitive side that he only let show when it would get him something. He and I talked deeply about life more times than I can remember, and then he would end it by saying something crass. He stood up in my wedding; I was best man and played piano in his.

We fell out of touch after college, the way people did in the days before Facebook was a thing. I would hear that he was living with his wife and kid by the Gulf, then up in Michigan, then down in New Orleans, then back home in West Texas. Then, out of nowhere, I hear that Johnny’s joining the Army.