Last night I had a surreal moment; as I do most nights, but this one was especially powerful.
The Historic Skagway Inn owns a restaurant called Olivia's Bistro, named after the Klupar's only daughter. Although this experience mostly happens after 11pm, I have to start there. I had been waiting since six for Olivia to process my discount which I did not receive yesterday (I am an employee, not a priority, and had watched a few people come and go; this story bears no reflection on the restaurant) when I got to thinking. What else did I have to do, really? I had moved from the lobby to the bar to the restaurant with no end in sight. That was when a little thought popped into my head: what if I started my theatre company in Skagway?
Before you tell me that it was an ill thought out idea brought on by three hours and a beer (I'm a lightweight and Alaskan beer is much stronger than the "Utah 3.2%"), let me assure you that this is not a new idea. My idea for what would eventually become a theatre company in the planning stages on my MAC started in 2006 during a simple conversation about a show I was doing with a friend. I was talking about CVCB's "the Nutcracker" and musing about building a building and putting a snow machine in it.
Fast forward to nine years later. I am calling an Executive Director and a Director about the Salt Lake Fringe Festival. I had a script written and was ready to push my idea off the ground. Well, it got to the third week and everyone dropped out; starting a theatre company is definitely an uphill battle.
Fast forward to last night sitting by myself hearing Olivia ramble to herself (we all do it; don't judge). I saw one of the other Klupar kids, Ian, sitting in the restaurant as well and figured that I'd go talk to him. During one of our thirty second bursts of small talk (we're both very introverted people; me more than him) an idea came to me that I had to share with him, more to hear how it sounded out loud than anything. I confessed that I had wanted to start a theatre company for a while, but that I had been having trouble coming up with an approach that would make my company stand out from all of the other theatre companies in Utah; well guess what? Skagway has no theatre companies. That was revelation A.
Revelation B came when a co-worker, Dennis, bought a round of coffee/Jameson's for himself, Ian, Karl, and I (Karl is the owner of the inn and my boss). Karl was giving the kitchen crap for using Cool Whip instead of actual whipped cream (that's a whole other story) and I was thinking to myself, "Where else do you walk thirty feet from your house to a restaurant, sit down to contemplate life, and have a drink with your boss?"
Dennis took us all to the "Elk's" (one of the many private places he is a member of) and bought us all a couple Jameson's on the rocks. We also got dinner and dessert there. During the walk home (I was stuffed, so it wasn't bad at all) I had revelation C; I was looking up at the dimly lit, snow capped mountains thinking, "This is my job. I work about eight hours six days a week serving to the needs of the masses and then I go to the restaurant that takes thirty seconds to get to to eat or just hang out with co-workers and/or my boss. I get to see this incredible scenery every day when I wake up and go to bed. I should start my theatre company and live here."
If anyone wants to contact me about cruises and "Legends and Lies", I am compiling a list of all of that information that will be available on a tab to be named at a later time. Until next time, Cheechakos!
The Historic Skagway Inn owns a restaurant called Olivia's Bistro, named after the Klupar's only daughter. Although this experience mostly happens after 11pm, I have to start there. I had been waiting since six for Olivia to process my discount which I did not receive yesterday (I am an employee, not a priority, and had watched a few people come and go; this story bears no reflection on the restaurant) when I got to thinking. What else did I have to do, really? I had moved from the lobby to the bar to the restaurant with no end in sight. That was when a little thought popped into my head: what if I started my theatre company in Skagway?
Before you tell me that it was an ill thought out idea brought on by three hours and a beer (I'm a lightweight and Alaskan beer is much stronger than the "Utah 3.2%"), let me assure you that this is not a new idea. My idea for what would eventually become a theatre company in the planning stages on my MAC started in 2006 during a simple conversation about a show I was doing with a friend. I was talking about CVCB's "the Nutcracker" and musing about building a building and putting a snow machine in it.
Fast forward to nine years later. I am calling an Executive Director and a Director about the Salt Lake Fringe Festival. I had a script written and was ready to push my idea off the ground. Well, it got to the third week and everyone dropped out; starting a theatre company is definitely an uphill battle.
Fast forward to last night sitting by myself hearing Olivia ramble to herself (we all do it; don't judge). I saw one of the other Klupar kids, Ian, sitting in the restaurant as well and figured that I'd go talk to him. During one of our thirty second bursts of small talk (we're both very introverted people; me more than him) an idea came to me that I had to share with him, more to hear how it sounded out loud than anything. I confessed that I had wanted to start a theatre company for a while, but that I had been having trouble coming up with an approach that would make my company stand out from all of the other theatre companies in Utah; well guess what? Skagway has no theatre companies. That was revelation A.
Revelation B came when a co-worker, Dennis, bought a round of coffee/Jameson's for himself, Ian, Karl, and I (Karl is the owner of the inn and my boss). Karl was giving the kitchen crap for using Cool Whip instead of actual whipped cream (that's a whole other story) and I was thinking to myself, "Where else do you walk thirty feet from your house to a restaurant, sit down to contemplate life, and have a drink with your boss?"
Dennis took us all to the "Elk's" (one of the many private places he is a member of) and bought us all a couple Jameson's on the rocks. We also got dinner and dessert there. During the walk home (I was stuffed, so it wasn't bad at all) I had revelation C; I was looking up at the dimly lit, snow capped mountains thinking, "This is my job. I work about eight hours six days a week serving to the needs of the masses and then I go to the restaurant that takes thirty seconds to get to to eat or just hang out with co-workers and/or my boss. I get to see this incredible scenery every day when I wake up and go to bed. I should start my theatre company and live here."
If anyone wants to contact me about cruises and "Legends and Lies", I am compiling a list of all of that information that will be available on a tab to be named at a later time. Until next time, Cheechakos!
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