Encounters: Tom B., Andrea L., Heather L. & one more

So I'm walking towards the Tidal Basin with Sam, because it's real close to my place.

We decide not to actually walk around it, though, and after passing by the Jefferson Memorial, we instead walk along the river towards the Hains Point area of West Potomac Park.

Before we turn away from the basin, I spy a familiar redhead walking towards me. Andrea and I went to school together at Montgomery College, and were both involved in the dance program.

When I actually came back after I graduated from UMD as a Dance Major I went back to MC to work on a show and to choreograph a dance, which I was lucky enough to have Andrea in. She was a beautiful mover who I really looked up to as far as dancing ability, aesthetics, and technique.

Anyway, she was out with her bf, sister, and her sister's bf/husband (? I can't remember). It was cool seeing her.

Sam and I start making our way towards the tip of Hains Point when I see someone on a bike. They yell "Hi JR", and while I said hi back, I didn't catch enough of a glimpse to put a name to the face...

That's actually one of the things that really frustrates me...I'm awful with names. I believe it's someone I've done a production with...that's usually a safe bet.

We continue to walk, and a couple of joggers approach. This time I make the connection first and say "Hi Tom" as he and a friend jog by. He says hi back. Tom is another acquaintance/friend I met during my brief stint singing with GMCW. DC's men's chorus is actually one of the largest (if not THE largest) glbta choruses in the country. At any given time, there are about a couple of hundred active singers, and it makes for getting to know everyone...well, a challenge. Tom was one of the other chorus members I got to know and become acquainted with.

So we make it to the tip of the point and start to head back. The weather's beautiful and there are so many people out, especially families with little kids.

One mother starts walking with her daughter in her stroller and I look at her because, well, it's a familiar face. It's Heather, and we most recently worked on the last show I was on stage for, Seussical, the Musical at KAT 2nd Stage. This was back in August/September. Heather and I actually also performed together, geez, several years ago now, in a Washington Savoyards production of The Merry Widow.

Seussical did so well, they're actually in the process of remounting it for May. Unfortunately I'm unable to rejoin the cast for this iteration of the show.

Anyway, those were my encounters this morning. It's nice to see how the weather just brings everyone (me included) out of the woodworks.

Encounters: Melinda E., Jeri M., & Aaron R.

I'm trying to leave this Artists' Bloc event we have at Woolly Mammoth (I'm Membership Director, for the former organization, not the latter) as the audience for Woolly's main stage production, Clybourne Park, is leaving; and I run into three theatre professionals/friends whom I've worked with over the years in various capacities, Malinda Ellerman, Jeri Marshall, & Aaron Reeder.

I say I'm trying to leave because I had been saying goodbye's for the previous 10 minutes and finally. But I shouldn't be surprised running into them, I suppose...I mean, that's how much of a community there is in DC, when you've worked in the area for any number of years.

Malinda...I think we might've actually met doing Summer Dinner Theatre at Montgomery College about 7 or 8 years ago. Our paths crossed again in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, when I transferred to UMD as a Dance major; she was a Theatre major.

UMD is also where I happened to meet Jeri, who I worked with a couple of years ago at the Smithsonian's Discovery Theater, which produces and presents "live performances for young audiences" in the DC area. I was Assistant Director for a show she was cast in, Going the Distance, a piece about Jesse Owens and Wilma Glodean Rudolph.

Aaron...I'm not actually sure how we met initially, but we got to work together on what was my last professional theatre gig before I started grad school, Jerry Springer: The Opera, at Studio Theatre, summer of '08.

Aaron has been performing with the Washington National Opera, for a number of season and is currently in their production of Porgy & Bess, which closes this weekend. Jeri is working on something with the Maryland Shakespeare Festival (I believe); and Malinda is performing with the St. Mark's Players in a production of Oliver! coming up in May, where she is playing Nancy.

That's the awesome but sometimes frustrating thing about all the awesome work that's being done in and around this area. There's a lot of it, but only so much time and money one has to go out and support it, particularly the friends and professional acquaintances you make over the years. Can't hurt to try and catch 'em all, though, right?!

(And yes, if you picked up on a Pokemon reference, that was intentional...I'm so ashamed...)