I want to preface this brief piece by declaring from the outset that the title is not ironic and does not intend to sport with our or another's misfortune. In spite of its brutality, it has proved, in the end, a pleasant recession. By the time this article goes to press, we will be advertising two new faculty lines in the Ph.D. program at the University of Washington. When this edition of Theatre Survey comes out, we will be interviewing candidates. Two years after the budget crisis first hit and we lost half of our doctoral faculty in one month, we will have emerged stronger than ever, with a wider, deeper, more rigorous program with far more partners and opportunities than we ever could have imagined. By the time this issue arrives, the hard times will not likely have ended, but they most certainly will have improved us.