After the Curtain Closes

Well, To Kill a Mockingbird has opened and I have my evenings back. Meaning I don’t have to be rushed eating dinner and I actually see my husband for more than just an hour or two a day. While that is of course very good, I am also kind of sad. Not disappointed by any means, after all I am very proud of the work that we did and continue to do in each performance, but sad that this weird little family of actors and crew will part ways. So much goes into a show that I feel you leave a little bit of yourself in the ether. Some part of you always has some kind of connection to that play, that part, and those people.

I was in the third grade when I did my first show. It was The King and I  and aside from one big important line to deliver I was asked to dye my hair black. I was on top of the world. A real actress. The show, like many community theatre productions, ran for just a little over a month and at the end I cried the whole way home. Interestingly enough, some 15 years later, I still have the same emotional reaction.

Theatre is not only about making connections with a script and an audience it is about developing chemistry and cohesion with your fellow cast members and the crew. Sure, that sounds cliché but its true. That is where the memories come from. The friends you make and the inside jokes you have are just the root of so many glorious theatre stories that help keep a show alive for years to come. They are what perhaps have some of the most lasting effects.

I served as the dramaturg and – as the director liked it say – child wrangler for To Kill… and even though I have seen it so many times in rehearsal and previews that I could probably play all of the parts it is Maycomb, Alabama and the knothole outside the Radley house that I will miss. I will miss the kids I had the pleasure of coaching and helping. I will miss the one boy who wanted bananas instead of candy as reward and the girls who always giggled at my silly voices and jokes. I will be sad to not daily see the gentleman who charmed me with stories of his children, grandchildren, and 36 great grandchildren. And perhaps most of all I will miss watching incredibly talented people create such art with such passion.

This is a rather mushy post but I think if you were to ask pretty much anyone who has had a positive theatre experience they would tell you about those moments with people as their favorite memories. Certainly it is very cool when you have an amazing costume, or get to have a solo, but that is just the gravy. What lasts after the curtain are the relationships you create and your sense of pride in your work. Not bad at all.

Do you have memories of performing that still cross your mind even though the show is long over? Please share in the comments!