I swear I didn't ask for it, but here it is. I've been doing community theatre for eight years now. When I started, I didn't know soft goods from a black curtain. Turns out they're pretty much the same thing. I directed my first play, "Catch-22," in 2002, and people liked it. To this day, I have directed a total of 5 full-length plays and a handful of brief one-acts, and all of them have been at least decent (even the indecent ones).

It's always rewarding to pull off a four-week run of a show as a director, but it's also very draining. Unlike actors & designers, you are pretty much responsible for seeing that everything gets done. My latest effort was called "Bug" by Tracy Letts (who recently won the Pulitzer & a Tony for his latest play "August: Osage County"). I even got some critical acclaim for my production, but it was also exhausting. Since I was the only one in the cast or crew with a washing machine, it was my job to wash the bloody sheets every night. With most shows, the director doesn't come every night, but I had to just to bring and pick up the sheets. Not to mention making everybody feel good about doing a play about paranoia.

After that, theatre people do what they always do: ask what you're going to direct next. I told them I didn't know. My girlfriend became pregnant, and I still didn't know what to direct. I acted in two full lengths and a brief one-act, and I still didn't know what to direct. The community theatre for which I've been on the board the last couple years asked for proposals. I looked at the play I always look at when I can't think of anything else, a theatrical adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, and I knew I still wasn't ready to do it. I submitted no proposal.

The co-founder/artistic director of the theatre asked why I didn't propose anything, and I told him I didn't know what to do. He asked if I was willing to look at a couple scripts, and I said sure. He gave me an Irish play called "The Seafarer" and an African American play called "Top Dog/Underdog." Both were good reads. The Irish play had drunkenness, Christmastime & a poker game with the devil. The black play is Pulitzer Prize winner dealing with two brothers playing three card monte and dealing with everything modern black men have to deal with.

I told the founder I liked them both, but I thought "The Seafarer" was more my style. I knew I could cast the five older men roles. I wasn't so sure about finding two black actors in Albuquerque who could both carry a show and be available. He said 'Okay, we'll see what happens.'

About a week later, another mainstay at the theatre asked if I would be interested in directing a brief one-act written by this guy named Gene, for a playfest revolving around politics and the election. Gene (who is black) had acted for me in "Bug," so I felt a little obligated to help him out for his short play. It turns out his play needed a black president, a black first lady and a black janitor who tells him what's what. Again, I know about a handful of black actors total in Albuquerque, so I knew casting would be a challenge. But it's a short play, so I figured I didn't need people with amazing skills.

A few days later, the founder came back to me and told me that the rights for "The Seafarer" were not available (it had just closed on Broadway in the spring), and he again asked about "Topdog/Underdog." I said it would be fun, but I still wasn't sure about casting. He took that as a 'Yes.'

Yesterday, it became official. I am slated to direct "Topdog/Underdog" for a January-February production (good for Black History Month), and I start rehearsals this week for a brief play involving black people (I even cast it!). As I wrote this last line, a guy just called up saying he heard I was directing "Topdog" and was interested in auditioning. The grapevine has begun...

So there you have it. I'm a local director who really couldn't think of anything to direct, really couldn't get excited about any scripts, and really wasn't sure what to do regarding theatre. After directing titles like "Catch-22," "High Life," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Suburbia" & "Bug," you just don't know what to sink your teeth into or why. Apparently, it's time to embrace the Black Man & the Black Plays. Who knew?

I swear I didn't ask for it, but here it is.

Chris Jungle has been described as Caucasian, Anglo & White.