life backstage
Something profound happened Saturday night…
Niagara University being the small (but renown), easy to miss, tucked away in corner on the Niagara Falls/Lewiston border Private college, the campus is tiny and the classes are tiny, but the sports teams are mostly asskickers and the theater program is surprisingly active. I think I’ve read the theater department puts on 3 shows every semester, and that can be a pretty tall order, especially when some of these productions will take longer and be more involved than others. Well, reading the Gazette’s usually mostly lame entertainment section Night & Day the other day actually made me leave the house and risk getting lost due to my lack of sense of direction to find NU campus and the theater upon it. Or more specifically, Shakespeare did. And that man’s immortal words have gotten me lost many a time on my way to find wherever the production was happening because every time, it’s an experience worth more than the drive, the mild confusion, and the ticket price. Last night it was worth far more. (I didn’t so much get lost as I did go one exit too far and then drag out the phone book I keep in the car to call the NU directory to ask where I should go to prevent further frustration).
Nothing will get me to drive all over god’s green earth in search or something that will entertain and mesmerize me like Shakespeare and Star Wars. That’s the truth.
Anyways, I’ve read and/or seen a lot of the Bard’s work but As You Like It was not one that I was privy to before beyond awareness that it was his work, and I was much surprised to find out that NU was putting was putting one of his plays on because sometimes his stuff was a little bit “scandalous” in the eyes of the offendable. But I tell you what, as musical romantic mix-up of a story, which was classic Shakespeare at its best. Stunning work by all involved.
And that’s what I told the trio of cast members I was outside having a cigarette with after the show. “Fantastic” was a word that one of said cast members really took heart to, as all artists are whores for compliments, but words like that are particularly meaningful.
Here’s the most profound part of the whole experience: I miss theater. I miss being part of it. I miss having theater type people around. I’ve seen a few plays over the last few years since I had to leave the theater behind for a career change that I made to seek stability and found further chaos and then got out of it… but until last night, those plays had been in bigger settings where talking to cast members afterwards was unlikely. So I never realized that I missed the life in the theater. I don’t have a remotely extensive theatrical resume, mind you, but every time I have been a part of the spectacle, it’s brought on a change that I carry with me forever. In my heart I looked back and figured that the theater was great while it last but it was the past. Last night told me that I guess deep down inside me, I feel that’s not the case after-all.
But I’m longing to find an outlet for that passion again.
My work schedule is pretty set in stone and at pretty inconvenient hours but I’m going to explore the possibility anyway. I feel strangely new again and I hope I can do something about it… I’ll keep y’all posted.
Niagara University being the small (but renown), easy to miss, tucked away in corner on the Niagara Falls/Lewiston border Private college, the campus is tiny and the classes are tiny, but the sports teams are mostly asskickers and the theater program is surprisingly active. I think I’ve read the theater department puts on 3 shows every semester, and that can be a pretty tall order, especially when some of these productions will take longer and be more involved than others. Well, reading the Gazette’s usually mostly lame entertainment section Night & Day the other day actually made me leave the house and risk getting lost due to my lack of sense of direction to find NU campus and the theater upon it. Or more specifically, Shakespeare did. And that man’s immortal words have gotten me lost many a time on my way to find wherever the production was happening because every time, it’s an experience worth more than the drive, the mild confusion, and the ticket price. Last night it was worth far more. (I didn’t so much get lost as I did go one exit too far and then drag out the phone book I keep in the car to call the NU directory to ask where I should go to prevent further frustration).
Nothing will get me to drive all over god’s green earth in search or something that will entertain and mesmerize me like Shakespeare and Star Wars. That’s the truth.
Anyways, I’ve read and/or seen a lot of the Bard’s work but As You Like It was not one that I was privy to before beyond awareness that it was his work, and I was much surprised to find out that NU was putting was putting one of his plays on because sometimes his stuff was a little bit “scandalous” in the eyes of the offendable. But I tell you what, as musical romantic mix-up of a story, which was classic Shakespeare at its best. Stunning work by all involved.
And that’s what I told the trio of cast members I was outside having a cigarette with after the show. “Fantastic” was a word that one of said cast members really took heart to, as all artists are whores for compliments, but words like that are particularly meaningful.
Here’s the most profound part of the whole experience: I miss theater. I miss being part of it. I miss having theater type people around. I’ve seen a few plays over the last few years since I had to leave the theater behind for a career change that I made to seek stability and found further chaos and then got out of it… but until last night, those plays had been in bigger settings where talking to cast members afterwards was unlikely. So I never realized that I missed the life in the theater. I don’t have a remotely extensive theatrical resume, mind you, but every time I have been a part of the spectacle, it’s brought on a change that I carry with me forever. In my heart I looked back and figured that the theater was great while it last but it was the past. Last night told me that I guess deep down inside me, I feel that’s not the case after-all.
But I’m longing to find an outlet for that passion again.
My work schedule is pretty set in stone and at pretty inconvenient hours but I’m going to explore the possibility anyway. I feel strangely new again and I hope I can do something about it… I’ll keep y’all posted.