Mark Twain: the sequel

See "A Lesson From Mark Twain".

Here I go again, stuck in an awkward position of saying no to work because of the questionable content. But this time I've already said yes - it's a collection of 8 10-minute plays, and when I agreed to stage manage the scripts hadn't been chosen. When they were, I was glad to see that none of them were too rough for me to handle. But this week a 9th play was added to the list, one whose sexual content is beyond my level of okay-ness. So I had to make the hard phone call.

I'm not just saying "No, thank you" to an offer. I'm quitting a job I already agreed to do. I'm backing out. I'm saying, "I know we load-in in a few weeks, but you have to choose - it's either me or the new play. Which do you want more?"

Talk about awkward.

Now I'm waiting for the verdict, to find out which one they pick. Am I nervous? Yeah, a little. I feel good knowing that they're at least considering cutting the play instead of me - that I didn't hear "Well, fine, we didn't like you anyway, you narrow-minded jerk" as a response to my concerns. But even if I end up leaving the project, there won't be any hard feelings on my part and I'm confident that I could still work with the group in the future.

I will say that every time I have to do this it gets a little bit easier.

But "easier" is very, very, relative.