Ghost lights
You find yourself sitting in a darkening theatre with sounds of other audience members talking amongst themselves slowly being hushed, as the swell of the ensemble of notes dance in the darkness all around; anticipation of the curtain finally opening. You find a nice comfortable position as the lights cast their way towards the stage. Music stops and the curtains open.
That feeling I get right before the curtains open, whether I am back stage getting ready to go on or planted in the audience looking onto the story that unfolds before my sight, exhilarates me. That feeling of being transported into a different world other than my own. The actors on stage bring alive the characters and scene before you and gives you a glimpse into their world, whether it’s made up or not. At least, that is the intention set by the actors. When it does happen, nothing else in the world exists except what is right in front of you. Sitting there transfixed into that world, laughing, crying, being shocked and awed.
That is what I hope I accomplished for past play and musical audience members of mine and what will happen when the time comes for people to fill those Colby auditorium seats the first two weekends in March. It has been several years since my last show which took place either in the Black Box theatre or Helen Laird theatre at the UWStevens Point-Marshfield extension. When I first moved to this area, well into Marshfield, I had no idea if there were any community theatres until I enrolled in some classes at the UW. At that time it was still an extension of the University of Wisconsin but it had not come to be in conjunction with Stevens Point.
Times there were wonderful. Stage/ acting life! I became alive again, or rather I was exhilarated to bring others’ pieces of work to life again. Showing the direction of where that character would go and grow. I would delve deep into the character on stage. Having said character show their actions and emotions outwardly instead of just stuck on a 2D page and imagination. It truly is a work of art. The entirety of the experience... from reading/memorizing lines, to blocking out scenes and creating the costumes, holding certain props a certain way, projecting your voice outwards and filling the room and hoping not to be shrill. It’s a sense of taking a time out of your life and giving it to another.
When the final scene comes to an end, it is bittersweet, especially in the last show. Actors are eager to give their best performance but also saddened that at the end of the hour or so, the character will again be only in 2D wating for the next brave soul to inhabit it. I hope I speak for many fellow actors when I say that it is a gift we have to bring these people and their lives alive for others to enjoy. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to do just that.
Lights start to dim on stage, signaling to the audience that the show has completed. Only but a moment later house lights are up and the real world is now back.
Seeking
W
onder
