Now and then I still see him: sauntering down Broadway, sweating at the gym, riding the bus. Sometimes he nods and smiles because he has no clue who I am. If he did recognize me, you see, I doubt there'd be much nodding and smiling.

If he knew that I am Adrian Ryan, the one who wrote those horrible reviews, he'd surely hawk a loogie at me or sock me in the eye or conspire to urinate in my coffee. Such are the occupational hazards of the theater critic. I've made my peace with this, as every critic must. But in this case—in the case of Josh Sebers and a certain Hyperion Productions—it really, really bugs me. It makes my stomach twitch unpleasantly. It makes me feel like something resembling... dirt.

Take a moment to Google Hyperion Productions, Seattle. You'll find a great big dusty pile of nothing—barring my brutal late-'90s review of their Tartuffe 2000 staring one Mr. Josh Sebers. I reviewed Hyperion's regrettably modernized version of Molière's classic in the wee earliest hours of my critical career, and the review hinged on my broad and sweeping condemnation of modernized classic works in general—a position I still hold and will happily defend—but I chewed up just about every aspect of the production like a rabid badger. I trashed the director: "The overly embellished direction had characters rolling on the floor, jumping on the furniture, and twisting themselves into contortions generally reserved for yogis, acrobats, and MS patients." I attacked the concept in general: "In setting Molière's classic in modern-day Los Angeles, Hyperion forces current cultural affectations upon the plot and characters, cluttering the stage with confusing actions and gratuitously inserted situations that the script simply does not support."

But it was Josh Sebers I was hardest on, Josh Sebers who fills me with, well, regret. "The moment Josh Sebers's caricature—I shudder to call it a character—of Tartuffe walked onstage, a flood of overacting was unleashed that left me involuntarily rolling my eyes and moaning... he bellowed in an affected drawl, stomped, screamed, shook, sweated, slobbered, gestured wildly to his penis, rolled on the floor, almost broke props, upstaged fellow actors, and swallowed some of the best lines with his fits. In my book, that ain't comedy. It's apoplexy."

Yeowch.

Shortly thereafter, it seems, Hyperion Productions, which began with great fanfare and almost 30 members, simply gave the fuck and up and vanished—and, to the best of my knowledge, Mr. Sebers stopped acting in Seattle altogether. At first I stood by my scathing review: I had recognized tremendous potential in Hyperion, and I figured that a little tough love wouldn't hurt them. My criticisms were honest, if severe, and I felt that they would do nothing but steer Hyperion in a more salubrious direction, to a long and bright future. How horribly wrong I was.

Today, oh so many moons later, I must admit that I have a much broader perspective as far as theater criticism is concerned. I have seen 12 gagillion tragic Seattle shows in the intervening years, and I realize that I was dreadfully hard on Hyperion Productions in general and Mr. Sebers in particular. Although it may seem a bit grand, I feel that I contributed a nasty shove to Hyperion's fall—and perhaps even to Josh Sebers's, who, I have come to realize, was a darn good actor.

When I think of it now, it makes me want to vomit. So, with no small portion of regret, I humbly ask the forgiveness of everyone involved with Hyperion (RIP)—a company that could have blossomed into something rare and relatively special—and especially of Josh Sebers, whose career I just might have ruined. Forgive me, Hyperion. Forgive me, Josh. I beg you!

Editor's note: We tracked down Josh Sebers (currently an "information management professional" in New York City) for a follow-up interview:

Would you have hawked a loogie at Adrian if you had the chance? "Absolutely not." Would you do so now? "Absolutely not." Did Adrian's review break up Hyperion? "Clearly not: We produced a sold-out run of Shopping and Fucking and an S. P. Miskowski piece after Tartuffe." Contribute to breaking up Hyperion? "Ridiculous." Does Adrian have delusions of grandeur? "He has guilt." Are you still acting? "Nope." Is Adrian at least partly to blame? "What an outrageous suggestion." Do you forgive him? "Of course."

We regret Adrian Ryan's megalomaniacal paranoia.

editor@thestranger.com