Filed by Bil at 9:46 pm under Shameless Plugs, The Arts

My day job is soooo boring…

“How boring is it?”

It is so boring that I have time to ponder abstract questions like the following:

Is it better to stand on the shoulders of giants, or to be a giant?

Here’s a quote:

If I have seen further than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.

This quote is occasionally attributed to Sir Isaac Newton, but more often than not the credit goes to Albert Einstein. (Then again, Einstein also once said, “the secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources,” so Einstein is suspect.)

With all the human advances of the last couple of centuries, it’s hard to imagine that any recent breakthrough in any field of study, be it science, literature, art, theology, or other, is a brand new idea that had never before taken root. So, to rephrase my question: is it better make something from the ground up, or is it better to expand on that which has already been built?

I guess that depends on the definition of “better.” Would I rather be known for creating something that was famous and popular, or would I rather lay the initial groundwork for that something? Could I be content knowing that my ideas were put to better use than I could have imagined? I’m only human, so of course it would be nice to be known for something good. But I must also consider that I am usually content knowing that I was responsible for something that someone else got credit for. It’s a coin toss.

Whatever I think the answer may be, however, I suppose I’ll find out all in due time. I am partly responsible for the formation of our new performing arts production company which, when official and on paper, will be called Tip Your Waiter Productions. Now, a performing arts company is nothing new – there are about a zillion of them here in Chicago alone – so it’s not like that’s a new idea, but a new company is itself something new, and whatever the fate of this company, I will know that as long as I am involved, I will have helped build something from the ground up.

To be perfectly specific: Tip Your Waiter Productions is the new name and the next incarnation of the Company Formerly Known As Per Diem. So, in one sense, it’s like I’m standing on the groundwork laid out by a previous company; on the other, I was one of those who laid that groundwork, so it’s like I’m the giant and I’m standing on my own shoulders. Weird.

Anyway, it feels new. The company as it stands now consists of some of us who were there in the beginning of that first life, and Tip Your Waiter Productions is a “new” company in that we are undergoing a name change (on record and in the ether). Lance was in the first and only Per Diem show, I wrote/directed it, and Trevor wore several hats behind the scenes. Trevor is now officially in, and his presence replaces a previous company member who actually was not a company member when that show went up and who actually had nothing to do with it. He’s also filling necessary roles that were not previously filled, so we are definitely in a better position for our next adventure. That’s three of us so far, and we will officially expand that official number as we work with more and more artists of various talents here in town.

So. I won’t claim that our company will turn out to be a giant, and I won’t claim that a “new” art form is our goal. We’ll see what comes. But we’re one show smarter than we were half a year ago, and this is the new beginning. The company will be built brick by brick. We will be what we will be. We will stand on the shoulders of giants for many, many things, but there is most definitely a point that we will be able to look back on and say, “It all started here.”

Please note: this is what we refer to in the industry (what industry? I dunno) as a “soft launch.” If you’ve read this post all the way through, A) thank you! and B) you probably won’t hear much else about the formation of Tip Your Waiter Productions or our upcoming play about William Carlos Williams until we have some solid details to talk about. We are still in the earliest of early planning stages.