Today is bittersweet. Today I take the stage for the last time in the Antelope Valley. Today one of the most important chapters in my life to date ends. And here come the tears...
I know that in the next six weeks, these tears will flow again and again, and I don't begrudge them. Whenever something important ends, there's pain if not outright injury, and whether pain or injury, the end of something important deserves tears.
Yes, I wrote the end to all the chapters ending soon—it seems that every new beginning comes after a (happy or unhappy) ending, and I made the choices knowing full well that these would be among the consequences—but even though I'm the one ending it, I am sad. Even when it's a loss I choose, I still lose. So let the tears flow...
The chapter that ends today—the Antelope Valley Community Theatre chapter of my life—began some twelve years ago, when I auditioned for and was cast in Cedar Street Theatre's production of Damn Yankees. I played Vernon Linville, a ballplayer on the Washington Senators, and had the time of my life. In that show I met Wayne, who has become my best friend.
Twelve years later, I've acted in nearly 40 shows, directed a dozen, designed several, seen three I wrote make their way to the stage...Damn Yankees planted the seeds in me that led me to pursue teaching theatre as a career, led me to graduate studies in theatre, led to many of my finest and most precious memories and friends. That show and its aftermath transformed me; among the ways my life is marked, BDY and PDY (Before Damn Yankees and Post Damn Yankees) are important.
Twelve years later, I am finishing a run as Milt Fields in It's Only Tuesday Productions' presentation of Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and that's it. Finis. The end.
I'm proud of what I've done PDY. I'm happy to have been a part of so many productions, to have contributed to the founding of It's Only Tuesday Productions, Wayne's theatre company, to have met and shared the stage with so many wonderful people. Antelope Valley community theatre has been at the heart of my life for twelve years now...
Of course there are tears.
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