Happy World Theatre Day...To All Who Celebrate

 It's World Theatre Day and my social media feeds are full of friends posting memories, many of which I was a part.

Wonderful memories.

On a whim I took my then five-year old son to an audition for "Scrooge" at the no longer in existence Rodgers Memorial Theater. It was fall, 2000. From 2000 to 2019 my son--and then my daughter-- and I did many shows together, and I did a few by myself. I've been blessed to work with talent upon talent, so many incredible people, so many incredible shows.

These pictures (and thousands more...) can be found on Ronald Russell's Flickr page where he was the designated photographer for both theaters for years. You can access his Flickr page by clicking: HERE. Ron is yet another amazing person I met because of the shows. That's the thing...it's not just fellow performers you meet and get to know. 

These pictures are from shows more than ten years old. I picked them because they were fun, but then again, almost all the shows were fun. I knew I was never going to be a leading man...character roles were always my lot, and I accepted it gladly. I remember getting parts and not understand how I--with no real theatrical background--could be cast in show after show aside remarkable individuals. 

 The last show I did was Peter Pan in Ogden. That was 2019, then covid hit and the world changed. Not being on stage was so painful for those involved in the shows. You, as an audience member, may have missed the theatre, but I guarantee you, those in front of and behind the stage missed it more.

It's been five years since I stepped foot on stage, five years since I've seen a show in a theater. If I never do another show, my life's been forever changed by the experience.

Wonderful, wonderful memories.

Returning...To Bedford Falls

 As is our tradition (and, I'm sure a tradition for millions of others...), we watched Frank Capra's Christmas classic, It's A Wonderful Life today. It's rare when a film can "take you back" to the past, to a time years ago when a group of friends and strangers, family and partners joined together to put on a show.

It surprised me how many memories of a community theater production came rushing back...

Wonderful, beautiful memories.

I think at that point I had done either five of the past six Christmas shows, or six of the past seven...I lose count, but this one was different. Sure, we'd done several versions of Dicken's Christmas Carol, and we even tried,  Babes in Toyland, but this was new, new to us as performers and new to the theater. Lots of unknowns associated with that show. 

The film is so iconic--look up "Iconic" in the dictionary and you could see a picture of the title card. Before we started, I wondered how the theater would capture the joy, then near tragedy of the boys sliding on the ice, the high school dancers falling into the water, the portrayal of a man almost choosing to end his life, then showing his life redeemed.

It's quite a task.

The theater pulled it off beautifully. It's alway an honor to be part of any show, but that one--like the film--was unique. I love the above photo snapped by Bre Welsh, owner of Pepperfox Photography.

The show closed six years ago. Since then, much has changed. Two of the married couples in the cast are no longer married, one of the cast members got married and is now a father, and another young man just preposed to his fiancee. These are but a few examples. Each of us have had things change in our lives since we struck the stage--too many to keep track of--but the movie remains...

And so do the memories.

It's a special film. It was a special show. I hope they do it again so the performers, the crew, and especially, the audience can create new memories of their own. 

Merry Christmas, everyone. Here's to more angels getting their wings.

Give Thanks...For Memories Of Performing At Christmas

 A good friend posted a picture on social media earlier this week. Interestingly enough (at least for me...), it was a picture I posted to social media several years ago. The picture--a show poster for a production of Scrooge we did decades ago.

Ah, the memories...

I believe the show was performed in 2001 at Rodgers Memorial Theatre (which no longer exists...). It was the second community theater production I did. I also had my son in the show with me...he was seven years old at the time. If you have the ability to zoom in on the poster, cast members wrote Christmas wishes to my son. I thought it would be something cool he could hang in his room as a reminder of his time onstage. I wonder if he even remembers doing the show.

We decorated the house last Sunday. In one of the boxes of stuff was a Christmas calendar from another production of Scrooge, this time in a new theater, Centerpoint Legacy Theatre (which thankfully does exist...). I apologize but I don't remember who went out of their way and made these calendars for everyone in the cast. The casts are huge so that was no small feat.

There was a time when I did five Christmas shows in the span of six years. So many rehearsals, so much time away from home. Thankfully, I did most of those shows with my daughter--always best if I can do a show with my kids. I've said many times, being in a show at Christmas is the best time of the year to do a show, but also the toughest time to do a show.

When my friend posted my picture, it brought back so many amazing memories. I'm so grateful of those memories, of those friendships, of those experiences that hopefully made wonderful memories for the patrons, because I know it did for me. Thanks, Dave for bringing some of them back.