Heaven is...

Darling Women,  

Pico Iyer said “heaven is where you think of nowhere else…” 

I love this definition so much. It captures something ineffable. 

I mention it because this experience has been so extraordinary, in ways I will be unraveling for a long while. The sacrifices of an actor’s life have always been vast— mind-boggling emotional labor, physical labor, mental sharpness, diplomacy, navigating egos and emotional intimacy with strangers, all while being so physically far away from the place we call home. I have loved Halina and all she portrays more fiercely than I’ve ever loved anything I’ve ever served. From the bottom of my heart I thank you all for it, my friends, my colleagues. 

….all this and yet I still miss Alec, Tati, my friends, even my local green grocer; I feel anxious to be away from my medical team and family. All to say: this can’t permanently BE “heaven,” because by Iyer’s definition, I do think of and long for them despite the innumerable rewards of being here…

But. 

When our beloved Fin says “without further ado, The God of Vengeance, Act Two…” and Anna plucks her fiddle playing Lisa’s peerless, straight-from-God melody… my inner-ocean swells, and nothing and no one exist but my Molly. Heaven is there. 

In that pool of light, in Molly’s eyes and embrace. 

I have tasted it. 

I have traveled there. 

Because of all of you. 

I think this play saved my life, beloved women. It gave me a reason to heal, to return to not merely a job or a place, but to the land of the living in body and in spirit. 

For this, and for so many things, I will never be able to express my gratitude enough. 

With my whole heart, 

Al