Friend a Day – John Newstrom

Photo by Garner Moffat

I met John through work when he took over for my old boss.  He’s since left the company but we’ve continued to work together as collaborators on Fringe shows.

When he came to work in the office, we hit it off right away.  I think we have fairly similar personalities.  Our senses of humor were perfectly matched and we both liked most of the same things.  He made work a lot of fun and while it made sense for him to move on when he did, I still miss seeing him every day.

John is the person most responsible for pushing me into writing more.  He suggested “Highlander: The Musical” as a show title and I said I would write the music for him if it got into the fringe.  It was a crazy thing to say since I’d never written a musical before.  That has led to a lot of writing projects that I never would have considered.

When John gets excited about something, you can’t help but be excited as well. He gets a wild look of determination in his eyes and it’s hard to say anything but yes, let’s give it a try.

I do possess a certain level of awe for people like John, who actually enjoy directing.  I’m happy to write things and have someone else figure out how to make those things look on stage.  John is one of those people and I’m extraordinarily lucky to have found someone who works well with me and has an understanding of what I’m trying to do with my writing.

His marketing skills are something I wish I possessed.  When there needs to be artwork produced for a show, he puts it together in what seems like seconds and it is always considerably better than anything I would have created.

Random chance is a funny thing.  John and I started working together without any knowledge of each other’s theatre background.  We hit it off and the result has been an artistic partnership far more fruitful than what either of us expected.

I’m very pleased random chance brought the two of us together.  I look forward to many more collaborations.