“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” - Henry David Thoreau, Walden
I have a true, true love of theater. This does not mean that I know every Broadway showtune by heart but, I am always working on that. In fact, I have been working on that since I was old enough to talk. As the lights of Broadway and most theaters across the country have dimmed because of COVID, I am hear to express my deepest longing for the return of all the arts. Theater being so unbelievable criticial to our emotional and spiritual well-being, is missed. We all miss it; even those who have never witnessed a theater production miss it. Why? Because our desire to sing, create, pretend, is within all of us. In a sense, we are all so very dramatic. Perhaps some are more dramatic than others but still, the drama lives within each of us.
I was five or six years old the first time I walked on a stage. It was in elementary school and I played the tooth fairy. My mother took one look and knew she was in very deep troube and had to keep her daughter's feet on the ground. At nine years old, my first big break at theater came...playing "Winne the Pooh." I gave up ballet lessons after that because I had the power to make people laugh and I did.
At 14, I was invited to tour with a New York City acting troup to do Shakespeare. I would have had to start my seventh grade year late. (I learned the hard way that one better not miss an entrance. NEVER.) Mom said, "Over my dead body." She need not have worried. I was for most of my life from too afraid. The chance of a career in theater was in fact ,just a chance. I auditioned at 18 for the theater program at the New York State University at Purchase. I was horrible. I gave up, went to college and became "sensible."
I spent two years at Northern Arizona University studying theater and journalism. I performed at the clubs in a comedy troup of my theater buddies. The club experiences taught me how to be tough. We were a very good improversational group and the joy of laughter was not nor has it ever been lost on me.
It took roughly six years of 'sensible" to graduate with a Bachelor's degree in English and journalism. I was lucky enough to write for few local newspapers but it did not take long for me to realize that there was hole in my soul that needed to be filled. I discovered local, community theater. I started out playing in the chorus of the spring musicals. I loved every minute and I do NOT remember laughing as much as I did because you see, I was just beyond happy to be on a stage, I forgot to be disciplined. I was so not disciplined. It took me a few chorus parts to realize that I needed to become serious because a cast of very hard working individuals were depending on every one of us. No part too small. No part too inconsequential. Everything,everyone did mattered. Community theater forced me to mature. I learned how important volunteerism is. I learned that no one is an island and that the spirit of cooperation lives in the theater.
As I have aged, some wonderful roles have been given to me. I was ready. I worked hard and the love of entertaining me became even richer. I never minded the conditions of the acting environment. I have performed in overwhelming heat and cold. I have performed outside and of course inside theaters large and small and the conditions never bothered me because for every performer, theater means home...with your acting buddies. When you are working on a theater project, everyone becomes family. Everyone celebrates the end of a run and rightfully so. You celebrate the beginning, the middle and the end and another project hopefully surfaces with new family and new audiences to cheer you on to a victory unlike any other.
The last show my mother ever saw me perform was the most memorable. She arrived in a wheelchair with her compadres from her assisted living home. As the end of the show, I rushed to get dressed and ran downstairs to her. She looked at me and said, "Now, now I understand why you do this..." I waited decades to hear those words and my heart has been full ever since. In fact, whenever I am teaching students, whenever I am presented with the opportunity to reach out to an audience of any kind, it fills my heart and that is what theater is supposed to do for us.
I miss the theater. The ghost light remains on until we can safely convene to entertain those who are in desperate need of a laugh, a good cry and a release from their personal reality. The arts are for everyone. The arts promote those emotions we keep bottled up, aching to be released. Theater heals. Theater promotes community. I pray for a recovery of theater more than anything else. Theater creates a legacy that for most us, contributes to the greater good. I am proud to be part of that legacy.
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