The Central Interior Zone Drama Festival is over and I am now simultaneously relieved and sad...

During Thursday night's Festival performance of "Welcome ot the Monkey House" where, as director, my only real job was to sit back, watch the show, and see every single little thing that goes wrong, I found myself thinking at one point, "Why do I do this to myself?"

Tonight I was reminded of exactly why when "Welcome to the Monkey House," came out of festival with five -- count 'em, five -- awards.

Specifically: Best Ensemble (for the finest group of actors a director could ever hope to work with, even in spite of the fact that there were 3 red-heads in the cast), Best Actor (for Brad Hammerstron who sold two-and-a-half very different characters in his time on stage), Best Lighting (thanks for all your help and hard work, Craig!), Best Costumes (Juli, I don't need to tell you how much you rock, because I'm sure you already know, but I'll tell ya anyway -- you rock!), and Best Hair and Makeup (to Tashja, who coordinated this area of the production that was completely alien to me, and to the designers who made these characters of the 1960s come alive, thank you, thank you, thank you).

Some half-drunken photos of people at the awards to follow once appropriate people e-mail 'em to me...