Curtains! (Part Four)

Ah, you thought that it was all over yesterday when I was done talking about myself! No, I in fact also sometimes serve the interests of others, and when doing so serves me by providing interesting material for my blog, it's all the easier. So it is that today the story goes on to encompass the closing-night performance our the instructor who helped each of us along with our performances over eight weeks. I had known her as a performer before, and yet there was a feel to the experience mildly like seeing one's teacher at the grocery store or something like that. I had agreed to help out on the support side as she had for ours, and so was there a bit early (though not nearly as early as I had been for my show days).

It so happens that the day to that point had been fully consumed by activity, the Gators-Bulldogs football game most of all. After stopping by the library and handling some domestic matters, I was rushed over to the theater. My first duty was to usher people around should they get lost on the large and sometimes confusing college campus which was playing host to us. I had the jacket from my own Twain costume on along with a garish t-shirt and ripped jeans, and was carrying a very large flashlight. All that with my hair probably had me looking a lot more like a prowler than someone there to help the disoriented theater-goer. I just made circuits around the building in hopes of spotting someone to give me purpose out there. It felt a lot like I was a night watchman.

Finally, that was through, and as the show started I took on a new task of videotaping the show. I made some effort to compose it well, and with some hiccups, I think it came out all right. The show itself was very strong. I had heard so much about it for so long that I was very glad for the opportunity to see it firsthand. It's always nice to have something to lord over people. I was very envious over our teacher's ability not just to fully embody and realize so many characters, but to then have the ability to run through them at rapid fire with no loss of comprehension on the audience's part. She has been doing this show for several years now, and her comfort with the material shows as clearly as do her deft efforts to keep what is essentially very topical material relevant.

Following the show, there was a period for audience questions and comments, which is known as a talkback. I had a question myself pertaining to observations I've made above here. There were other comments and questions from the crowd, and our teacher the performer had well-spoken and insightful answers and rejoinders for everything. Performing alone for as long as that is very energy intensive, and one could not help but wonder at how restored she was after a couple minutes of rest. Regretfully, I did not linger long after the talkback. This being the weekend of Halloween, parties abounded, and I tore off along with a friend to go make one. That being the case, I cannot say with specificity what happened after that, but can say that the experience was then truly at an end.

Tomorrow, I promise that you'll get something else!