Thank you, Ken

Ken got me my first paid job in theatre back in 1989 or so when I was a poor punk kid living out of my beat up yellow mustang on The Ave. [ Now, these days, I sit in his old role as Warehouse Manager at TPN. I was hired just in March and heard through Todd Phinney (another Issaquah veteran, AND another former Warehouse Manager for TPN no less) about Ken. I’m crushed.]

Ken believed, without so much as a prompt, that I could do that first job, that I could make it. He could sum people up like that.

It was just a short stint, firing guns backstage and pulling ropes at the Village for a few weeks, but it was magic. It was the perfect show to start my career, and the cast & crew were such a giving friendly bunch. So much so that they even helped me wow my girlfriend: during the end of curtain call one late May day, they stopped and gave her a warm and personal shout: HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY. She was floored by how (stupidly) romantic I was, and how nice the ‘Village people’ were.

Sidebar: I recall some of us played the hide-n-seek in the dark game dubbed
“murder” in the old Village after shows – [ I remember Terrance’s tall frame vaulting over the seats in the pitch black, and Melissa’s nervous laughter and Jason’s wicked grin in the dark, and Scott ‘Village Idiot’ Brown’s funny voices ] and overall just shrieks of fun from all of us. Village was an adult playground, one as innocent as can be. I have no doubt Ken instigated those games.

Ken I think was the PM, and I also recall Alex designing lights. I had also seen Ken on rare occasion at parties south of Issaquah, those recurring Landback-drama-kid extravaganza’s that occurred nearly every Halloween and New Years.

But most of all, I came away from that show (and the next one that Ken lined me up for) owing Ken my life. Ken Tilden extended his hand when I was lowest and everyone else had kicked me down. I went from expelled punk kid living his nights at the Exit, sleeping days wherever was safe, starving each night - to someone with skills, with a job, and with contacts. With confidence.

Those contacts and that job lined me up for my entire career to this day: I went from stagehand to Stage Manager to Designer to Director. 5 years after that first job at the Village, I was Artistic Director of a community theatre and a year after that I started my own theatre education/design company. The following year I used those contacts as references for getting a job with a theatre event and supply house. 2 years more saw me put myself through college a bit late, getting my BFA from Cornish. I’ve worked in corporate events and occasional theatre gigs now for 16 years. Even got a job offer over in NYC that I took up for a couple years. I married that girl Amy and we’ve been together now 18 years, and she’s a) a wonderful mother, and my best friend; and b) just as much a sucker for my romantic side; and c) just as grateful to Ken for what he’s given us as I am. I’m raising a family and enjoying my career: the odd kismet that has brought me to the TPN family – TPN that’s seen Cornish Alum and Village alum both. I made it, thanks to him.

Thanks Ken. Thank you so very much for believing kids could do anything. Thanks for having faith in humanity – a curse and gift that we understood well.

I owe you a debt that I never ever could have repaid, even if I’d had all the time in the world. I’m glad you managed to live 2 lifetimes worth of living in your short time with us.

You were priceless.

Phoenix ‘Tom’ Smith