Alright, well, I've been crying about this a bunch already so strap in for more tears! 

Ten years ago, me and one of my best friends, Maddie Becker Love of my Life, decided to start producing our own theatre shows at the ripe ages of 18 and 20. Taking inspiration and motivation from the Hamilton lyric "I'm just like my country, I'm young, scrappy, and hungry" we moved forward, full steam ahead, and put on our very first show, Really Really. We hosted auditions, cast the show, and just as we were about to wrap up, someone came in and asked if they could still audition. We said yes. And thank goodness we did. Alanna O'Connell stepped into that audition and changed everything, and we've been making art together ever since. Once Alanna and I learned about She Kills Monsters, we knew it was something we wanted to do together. Fast forward ten years and here we finally are.

When I think back to the past ten years, and all the times we tried to do the show, I realized that this whole time has just been preparing us to do it, here and now, in a way that blew away any expectations that 18 year old me had. I needed those ten years to become a professional wrestler and meet Abe the Babe. I needed to expand my theatrical experience and do a show with Brittney Green. I needed to bring breakfast tacos to Jessica Lemmons and learn that dancing isn't actually scary and that doing things scared is kind of the whole point. I needed to learn vulnerability and be willing to give up control and to find soemone I trust to care about all of this as much as I do, and I needed Beth Lowry to be that person. I needed to start a D&D campaign that I worked so incredibly hard on and I needed to share it with the dedicated, talented, and kind people who would tend to the story with love, Keri Kempf, Dalton Jones, and Kathryn Thomas. I needed to find someone with a spreadsheet for a brain who was also able to speak my language and care deeply, which is what happened when I met Caitlin Geller. I needed to be introduced to a teenager who I was told to give a chance to, and I needed to be blown away by Os Bergeron Prejean. And I needed every single member of my community who has gotten me to where I am and who has never let me fall. Who has always answered the call whenever I have a new idea or project. Thank you for believing in me.