Heads!

I got all this crap in my head swirling around and making me absolutely sick to my stomach, and keeping me from my work. I fully recognize that I have a heightened sense or mortality here compared to your average healthy Joe, and to many my seemingly crazy fears are just undue paranoia and stress, but I can't help it, even with the meds.

I have a sometimes paralyzing fear that something will go drastically wrong on one of my sets, and end up killing a bunch of people, at this point in my career, those people being my colleges colleagues. After seeing all the footage lately of the Sugarland stage collapsing, played over and over on news channels, I am reminded of how potentially dangerous a theater stage can be. Now I don't want any faculty to think that I don't have the utmost trust in their abilities and safety practices, but accidents happen. And an accident on a set I design will, no doubt, leave me feeling tremendously responsible.

It causes another dilemma in my process. It makes me want to "play it safe" in my design, and in taking that route, I often feel innovation is lost, and the art suffers.

To my actor and crew friends, don't let my words scare you. I have this fear with every show I work on , it's just in my nature to worry, and I felt I needed to express it to get past it. So please, carry on with your brave work, and break a leg! (But no more than that, please.)