Stuart Richey and Michael Trutna met in 2009 when they shared the TADA Theatre stage in a production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."
Six years later they were married.
Neither one of them realized the theatrical stardom they dreamed of decades earlier, but the moral of their story is that happiness is not necessarily predicated on fame or fortune.
Instead, it can come by surrounding ourselves with people who matter -- we're all lucky if we find that one person who makes each day worthwhile -- while recognizing the gifts we bring to the party.
When we're able to use those gifts to bring joy to others, that's the epitome of happiness. It might be the true definition of love -- fame and fortune, be damned.
Richey and Trutna are living their best life. Workers by day. Actors by night. And partners, 24/7. It doesn't get much better than that.
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Richey works by day at the State Capitol, transcribing legislative debates and committee hearings to create a written record of the political workings of Nebraska.
Trutna is a human resources specialist, working with Lincoln companies bring their work forces up to speed, while helping their management to be as efficient as possible.
It's a far cry from the neon lights of Broadway each dared to imagine at one point, but there's no regret. Instead, they relish any opportunity to get back on stage.
They recently sang together at Screamers, the Historical Haymarket restaurant, where each meal comes with a floor show, and this week will make their return to the TADA stage.
"It's exciting," Richey said. "We're having so much fun."
They'll star in a two-man production of "Greater Tuna," which opens Thursday and runs through Aug. 28.
The comedy centers around a radio station in tiny Tuna, Texas, the third smallest town in the Lone Star State. Set in the 1980s -- a time before the Internet, social media and cellular telephones -- radio and the information the emanates from the airwaves is both vital and a source of entertainment to everyone in the town.
Speaking of everyone in town, they are played by Richey and Trutna. In all, Richey plays 10 characters, while Trutna will plays nine.
"It’s a test of your acting abilities to try to portray so many characters," said Trutna, who grew up in a small town north of Lincoln and went to high school with a graduating class or 57, but only had to be himself each day.
After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he took his chance at by moving to New York in the 1990s. What he found was a few bit parts, but most of his work came in managing retail stores.
"I acted a little, but not as much as I wanted to because you have to be sure to keep a roof over your head," he said.
He did find some voice-over work and even got a gig on ABC's daytime hit "All My Children," where he played a juror in the murder trial of Erica Cane's daughter.
"I was on for a couple of weeks," he said. "That was fun because it was one of my mom’s favorite show, so she had a ball with me being on it."
That turned out to be the high point of his acting career -- and of his time in New York, where his biggest selling point was his "Midwest Niceness," which prompted retailers to put him in the front of the store.
"I was a change of pace from the average New Yorker," he said.
And by 2004, he'd had enough of the Big Apple. He moved back to Nebraska to be closer to family and to be surrounded by like-minded niceness.
A couple of years later, Richey, a few years younger than Trutna, was leaving his hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri, to major in theater at UNL.
He never left Lincoln and has never stopped jumping into every stage performance around, be it at TADA, the Lincoln Community Playhouse or any of the countless theaters in neighboring cities.
Working at the Capitol building is far removed from the theater world and makes him appreciate those opportunities to get back on stage.
"I can shut off my theater brain and do my work," he said. "Theater is my complete outlet instead."
And the last two years have given everyone -- stage performers especially -- a newfound appreciation of what putting aside a passion for the greater good.
"We're happy to be back after those missed years, where our artistic outlet was nonexistent," Richey said. "It’s so nice to be back."