Happy New Year, darnit!
It’s mid-January already, so the phrase above might be feeling a little overworked, and the new year itself is full of challenges (continuing and novel), but I don’t care. This time in our Hylton Center world is full of Happy New Year thoughts, as we come back from our holidays and gear up for the resumption of rehearsals, classes, performances, and the annual return of my favorite art show in the Buchanan Partners Art Gallery, featuring the students of our great Prince William County Schools. Our theaters and rehearsal halls have sprung to life with activity, which you can read about further on in this newsletter.
So, taking a chance that this is my first chance to say hello to you in 2022, and at the risk of redundancy and oversimplification, Happy New Year! We have reason to think it will be.
A Dimmer, not a Switch
My early experience and training in the theater was in lighting, so I’ve always been attracted to electrical metaphors. Dimmers and switches come to mind when thinking about our evolving response to the changing pandemic, which has already caused some rescheduling and a cancellation or two, some shifting of production expectations, and a constant monitoring of public health guidelines and industry best practices, in partnership with our superb George Mason University Health & Safety professionals.
I think these next few months will see us turning up and down the dimmer, not switching the lights on and off as we had to do in the earlier days of the pandemic. We’ve learned a lot as a field about how to cope, and making adjustments as smoothly as possible will continue to be our goal, like a good lighting designer who doesn’t plunge the audience abruptly into darkness or shock them awake with a blast of light.
We’ll do our best to keep you informed and equipped to enjoy the amazing excitement of the spring season at the Hylton Center. As the saying goes, “watch this space!”
*Fade to black*
Rick Davis
Dean and Executive Director