"Everyone likes a compliment.” - Abraham Lincoln
It is only several hours before the show opens here in Bozeman, Montana (Intermountain Opera Theater). Today has been so wonderful - woke up rested, went running on the trail near our cabin -
and then indulged in a regular routine well-known to those in theater.
[Opening night cards.]
I remember getting used to this tradition and really worrying about if I was “doing it right.” There isn’t a way to do them right or wrong (okay, maybe telling really inappropriate jokes in a card to the president of the board might not be a good idea. That would be “wrong.”).
But I wanted to take the time to really thank people for what they had brought to the rehearsal process. One colleague here was a colleague eight years ago at Merola. Another one had me play a separate audition for him while we were here and then we had a nice lunch after. A third is a full-time mom with many children, but she has devoted some volunteer time to coordinate some opportunities for school kids to hear more about our profession and stories. It does take a village to put on an opera, and to keep a company (of any size and in any location) running.
It is human nature to like to receive compliments. We actually need them. Mark Twain said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.”
However, it doesn’t seem human nature to give good compliments these days. In this day of social media (a very beloved mentor who does not use the platforms calls them all “My Face,” which gives me such a chuckle every time I think about it), people are complimenting themselves, while really accounting for how inadequate they feel. I got reports from a friend that she encountered someone who was so self-“complimentary” that it was grotesque.
This will kill art if it continues.
One of the lifelines that we all have is to compliment each other - to bring out the best in each other so that we in turn can do our jobs and bring this gorgeous art form to life. It matters not if the people are managed professionals in the highest places, or if they are still students, on the way to figuring out this business.
One of the best compliments I have ever received happened a few days ago. I was in rehearsal and the different managers and directors of InterMountain Opera Bozeman asked me if I was interested in being interviewed about my job on this production. I was interviewed and wrote about it here, and was pleased to read the article today. The columnist, Rachel Hergett, did a wonderful job in writing about the things which we spoke. You can read the article here. In asking me to do this, my colleagues paid me a compliment about my work.
But the cycle must continue. I wrote to all of my colleagues today, thanking them wholeheartedly for their efforts to bring this piece to life.
I paid an inadvertent compliment to my barista today too (I have no internet at home, so necessity in terms of keeping up with the world brings me to coffee shops while here). He brought me some espresso with some foam on top - and I took a picture of the image. He said,
“The biggest compliment I get is when someone takes a picture.”
Here’s to compliments of all shapes, sizes, and types.
