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| David Susman |
Last year was my first experience with the Boston Theater
Marathon. I loved it, of course. A full day of theater—what’s not to love? It
was a privilege to see my play staged alongside works by playwrights I’ve
admired, and to be part of Boston’s theater community.
But I didn’t fully understand or appreciate the magnificence
of the event. I was a novice, and I was caught up in my own wide-eyed
enjoyment. Since then, I’ve learned a few things. I’ve learned that a play
festival—even a “regular” one, a small one—has a hundred moving parts. I’ve
learned that a festival organizer has to be, all at once, a logician, a
visionary, a personnel director, a motivator, a taskmaster, a promoter, a
cheerleader, and a hell of a hard worker. I’ve learned that 53 plays in ten
hours is insanely ambitious. Lunacy, really. It shouldn’t be possible. But it
happens every year, and happens wonderfully. The fact that proceeds are given
to an excellent cause only makes me love it more.
