2014 has been pretty astonishing. There is so very much to be grateful for, and so much to rail at the heavens over. But I'm going to focus on the things I'm grateful for tonight.
The Michigan Shakespeare Festival had a truly stellar season. Under my wife's guidance, it's become the place great people want to spend their summers. And that's largely due to the team efforts of a bevvy of Blixts and a Bennett. My mother joined the MSF board a few years back, and she's the real driving force these days, with my father pitching in to help when she needs a project finished. There's me, of course. And there's Nona Bennett, the MSF general manager. Thankfully we have wonderful new board members this year, who are as enthusiastic as humanly possible. In a year that saw so many theatres closing their doors, I'm grateful that we are not only producing but producing so well.
Oh, and there were a ton of Wilde awards, one of which I won. That was surreal. I remember being utterly flummoxed at winning EMU's Distinguished Young Alumnus award a few years back. This was much the same. Jan had already used the only speech I had considered giving as she accepted her award, so I got up there and winged it. For someone who likes to hold forth as often as I do, I am apparently bad at giving speeches. At least, in English.
Then there was the Verona trip. 14 years ago I had a fantasy about the city of Verona making a fuss over me for the book I was writing. The reality far exceeded the fantasy. And it's due in very large measure to Anna Lerario, Veronese film-maker and soul of creativity and perseverance. Along with her husband Antonio Bulbarelli, Anna contacted me in 2013, having just completed her documentary about Cangrande. Wisely, she had refrained from reading my work until after her film was complete. But once she did read THE MASTER OF VERONA, she reached out at once to ask if she could use the title for the English language version of her film. Seeing the film, I agreed at once. I did a little work on the English translation for the film, and she reciprocated by making a book trailer from the footage of her Veronese films. Suddenly we were thick as thieves, releasing a joint book/dvd edition of our works.
Then Anna reached out to Gianni La Corte at La Corte Editore, asking on my behalf if he’d be interested in publishing an Italian version of MOV. Gianni was enthusiastic from the start, and turned it around in record time. Anna arranged for the City of Verona to pay my passage. So, for the first time since our son was born, Jan and I headed to Verona to see old friends and make new ones as we promoted the Italian release of my first novel, something I had always dreamed of.
Gianni is a delight, and arranged for me to be a part of the Torino Book Fair, an international book expo that attracts 40,000 people each year. I made so many friends that day, and was thrilled that my old friend Chuck decided to make a 13-hour drive from Germany, where he's stationed, to spend the day with us.Through Anna and Antonio I did TV and radio interviews, met dignitaries and scholars like Giovanni Rapelli, who went with us on our tour of Santa Maria in Stelle. I met the cook Gioco, as well as the very real Yuri and Fabio – Yuri actually played Cangrande in Anna’s film, so it was fun for me to put him into this book as one of Cesco’s Rakehells. Certainly our nights out in Verona were memorable – or would be, if I hadn’t drunk so deeply.
I got to meet other Veronese friends in person: Marina Bonomi, David Osborne and his lovely wife. And through Anna I met Joyce Stewart, an American journalist and ex-pat living in the best apartment I have ever seen, a stone’s throw from the Arena. We were lucky enough to be welcomed into her home for most of our stay. She's quite wonderful. As Jan put it, "She's tribe."
There were only two nights not spent at Joyce's place. One was in Torino. The other was our night at La Foresteria on the estate of the Serego-Alighieri family – an estate bought by Pietro in 1353. After a gap of twelve years, Jan and I were again able to interview the Count, this time for pleasure, not work. He told us marvelous stories of his father, and I was able to give him copies of all the novels I had written about his ancestor, including the newly-published Italian version of The Master Of Verona, rechristened Il Cavaliere Della Profezia Di Dante. The reality was better than the dream.
Back at home, there are several people that I'm simply grateful to have in my life. There's the Patches, past and present. I love just getting together to play with you jerks. In the face.
There are the MSFers, from the Summer performers to the MiSFits. I love you guys. Truth is truth.
There's Tara Sullivan, godmother to our kids and our closest friend. She's off on a new adventure now, but we were blessed to have her stay with us while she wrapped up her time in Chicago. Love you, T.
There's Joe Foust who, aside from being a talented bastard, the bravest man I think I have ever known. He suffered an unendurable loss, and has been an astonishing model of honest and open grief and love. Love hard, people. Follow Joe's example.
There's Rick Sordelet, who I've not been in a room with in two years, and yet talk to constantly. Partner, brother, co-conspirator, he's the best.
There's Alice Austen, with whom I cannot have a short conversation because once the ideas start flowing, they are unstoppable. She just finished a successful Kickstarter for her film GIVE ME LIBERTY, and last week she asked me to come and work on the film. Yes, please.
There are new friends, like Adam Felber and Joe Zettelmaier, and old friendships being renewed and deepened, like with Shawn Pfautsch and Kate and Jeromy Hopgood.
There's my friendship with my fellow travelers, the authors with whom I am able to converse and share in their successes and frustrations – more the former, thankfully. Sharon Kay Penman, Chris Gortner, Patricia Bracewell, Gillian Bagwell, Donna Russo Morin, Helen Hollick, Stephanie Dray, Jane Steen, Kate Quinn, MJ Rose, Leslie Carroll, Marci Jefferson, Sophie Perinot, Michelle Moran, Stephanie Cowell, and so many, many more. Go out and find their books. You will not be disappointed.
There are my folks, who are an endless sea of support for Jan and me, on every level. I love seeing them successful in what they put their hands to. Very much my models for how to exist in this world.
There are my kids, who are just too good to be true. Waiting for the other shoe to drop on that one. Dash is genuinely nice, taking the weight of the world on his shoulders when he should be far less selfless. Fortunately for him, Evie is going to own the world. While I'm at it, I'm grateful for their school, which is utterly fantastic. Which leads me to thank Diane Fairchild, who introduced us to it.
Ultimately, I am thankful for being allowed to share my life with my wife. She is the perfect compliment to me, which I doubt is a compliment to her – that she succeeds in keeping the practical side of our lives together while still managing to excell at her creative endeavors and run two theatre companies – well, for those that know her, it's hardly surprising. But to have someone with whom this is so very – easy? Love isn't easy, but it should never have to be hard. It is never hard for me to love her. It's the simpliest thing I've ever done, and the most rewarding.
If you've read this far, I'm grateful to you, too. I'm grateful to everyone who reads, let alone reads the children of my brain. And I'm grateful for being allowed and able to tell the stories that live in my head, be they on stage or on paper.
So, while 2014 was hard in so many ways, I am grateful.
Thank you.
