Writing about the seasons, while traditional for so many cultures, has never been my thing. When I was in grad school, a professor gave us an assignment where we had to write a poem to the prompt “autumn.” My poem began, “I have nothing to say about autumn,” and went on for about a page after that, unsuccessfully. So I suppose it’s kind of strange that I came up with the theme of Rec Room’s four year anniversary show, “the four seasons.” I was just brainstorming things that had to do with fours (four legs on a table, four chambers of the heart, the four seasons), and this is the one that we went with.

It turned out to be the right choice. The back room of Black Rock was decked out in all four seasonal decorations and balloons, along with collages of four years of Rec Room. The set list was huge. The audience was standing room only. Della sent us a raffle prize to give away. Old friends and new came out in support of our little reading series, all grown up.

I don’t think I can recap everyone who performed that night because there were so many. Our performers were diverse in their work and in the way they interpreted the theme of the night. They reminded me of what I think makes Rec Room unique: our ability to bring together so many different people who may not otherwise be in the same room, reading at the same venue, and then to give these people a stage to try out their newest, most outrageous or experimental, or even their most tried and true works in front of a welcoming and thoughtful audience.

So to everyone who performed--eric lab rat, Amber Drea (goodbye Amber, wish we could have met you earlier!), Abby Cucci and Sam Wagster, Jason Bredle, Sunny Byers, Miki Howald, Joshua Dumas, Eric Elshtain, Matthias Regan, Allison Gruber, Elizabeth Graettinger, Nina Corwin, Krista Franklin, Erin Teegarden, Meg Barboza, Nicolette Bond, David Digangi, and Sondra Morin, as well as Idris Goodwin and Mike Haef via digital recording—thank you for celebrating this anniversary with us. Thank you for making Rec Room everything that it is. We could never have done this without you. Aw shucks, "Seasons may change, winter to spring/ But I love you until the end of time..." Rec Roomers, I love you!