That is some of the best advice I have ever received from a director. We were working on the song at the end of the show and those of us playing instruments were having a hard time getting one of the changes. We are all actors who play instruments more than musicians who act and so it’s easy to get a little self-conscious. We really wanted to nail it, to get it right. Then Bill chimed in with, “Alive is better than perfect”. It sounds so simple but it was (ironically) the perfect thing to say. Suddenly it ceased to be about us as actors trying to play a song perfectly and became about characters who (perhaps unfortunately) have our musical ability, coming together to play music and celebrate. The pressure was off of us as actors to get it right and instead it was on the characters that were much less concerned with perfection and more concerned with playing. If I miss notes then it pulls me out of the song and I get embarrassed, but if my character Corin misses a note he just hits the next one because there’s a party going on, not a performance.  I liked that quote so much I kept thinking about it and how it applies to the play. “Perfect” is about performance. It’s about actors acting. It’s about showing. It’s judgment. “Alive” is about being. It’s about characters in situations. It’s about the story. It’s about being present and taking the journey. Which sounds like more fun to you? Sure it’s enjoyable to watch people who are good at something do it well. But it’s a lot more fun to watch a good story. One of the things I love about this show so far is that we are all there to tell the story, not to look good telling it. It’s hard to forget that you’re an actor and there might be a critic or casting director out there whom you want to impress. But that’s not where the story is. That’s not why we’re all coming together for this show, audience or actor or technician. We’re coming together to share a story and revel in Life.