This weekend, I took a step that will, hopefully, help me expand my creative horizons and develop my skills in both sewing and podcasting. On Sunday afternoon, I saw an announcement on my local community college’s home page saying that tickets to the local community theater were only $7 with student ID. “Cool,” I thought. “I should check out their website and see what shows they have coming up.” When I read through the list of productions on the site, I came across a play that was new to me, but instantly got my attention: “I Hate Hamlet.” I won’t copy-paste out of respect for the theater’s content, but the basic premise of the play is that a stage actor has landed the role of Hamlet, even though he hates that play, and is mentored throughout the production by the ghost of a now-deceased, but well-respected figure in the local theater community.

Reading about this play got me all fired up because its premise is eerily similar to the premise of the first season of Slings and Arrows, the TV series we discussed on my last podcast, The Ghost Light Podcast. One of the things that sparked my interest in the TV series, and in co-hosting the podcast, was the fact that the series was about a theater company. Theater is an art form that I’ve enjoyed and admired from afar for most of my life. My mom always took me to see plays at the high school where she taught, and I eventually ended up in the pit orchestra for one of those plays, which was an absolute blast. During the production of the Ghost Light Podcast, I always thought I should get involved in my local community theater somehow, or at least show up for a play or two. I never did either of those things during the podcast’s run, but this year, I will.

Since I loved Slings and Arrows so much, I knew I would love “I Hate Hamlet,” too. Reading about it pushed me from just thinking about volunteering to actually volunteering. I filled in the volunteer signup form on the website. In one of the text fields on the form, I mentioned that I had enjoyed Slings and Arrows, and that it was the reason I was so excited about “I Hate Hamlet.” Today, I got a response from the costume shop coordinator. I was delighted to see that in her response email, she said: “Isn’t Slings and Arrows great!”

One of my favorite parts of co-hosting the Ghost Light Podcast was listening to my co-hosts Paul and Darcy’s stories of shenanigans in the theater world. I’m really looking forward to experiencing theater life firsthand, even if only as a costume shop volunteer. Anything I get to help sew for this or any production will be a labor of love. I’m very happy to lend my sewing skills to the theater. The costumes will probably be more challenging than anything I’ve sewn before, but that’s a good thing, because it means I get to learn new things. In addition, I hope to be able to record some live audio, or maybe even live interviews, while I’m volunteering. No promises, but I will try. If I do get that audio, I will use it to create some theater-focused episodes of my yet-to-be-named podcast, which will be designed to complement this blog. It will feature my serialized fiction, as well as other content related to my various creative endeavors.