And after closing night she rested

Suessical is over. We had our last performance last night. It was wonderful!! Fantastic!! Full house, even. Now, don’t tune out just yet because I’m talking about “that dad-gum play” again. I know I’ve been a little obsessed with my theatrical pursuits lately, but that’s because it’s been taking over my life.

Really, this whole production wrapped up in only two months. But it’s been an intense two months, with 3-5 practices per week, and the last few weeks it’s been almost daily. I don’t even want to think about how many hours that’s been, but it’s been a lot. And although I’ve been having so much much fun, my family has been getting a little tired of it. Here’s what they have to say:

Jenna: “Mom, can we go swimming today?”
Me: “No, sweetie, I have to go to my play today.”
Jenna: “AGAIN?!”

My Mom: “So, what are you going to do after your play is over and all your houseguests leave?” (Did I mention that we’ve had guests staying here for the past two weeks? Oh, well, we have.)
Me: “Wow, I don’t know. Maybe clean my house of fix a decent dinner for my family.”
My Mom: “I’m sure they’ll appreciate that.”

Ryan (Saturday night after I got home from doing a matinee and an evening performance and was gone for 10 hours): “I’m tired of your play.”

John (after coming to see the show): “I liked your play mom!”
Me: “Thank you.”
John: “I liked the cat.”
Me: “I liked the cat, too.”
John: “And the elephant.
Me: “Oh.”
John: “And the monkeys.”
Me: “Good.”
John: “And the birds.”

Megan (singing): “Tell yourself how lucky you are.”

Cole: (actually Cole has had nothing but a positive experience. He kind of got volunteered into working in the booth and doing sound for the show, so he’s been there almost every night for the past two weeks, too. In fact, last night when we were striking the set (that’s cleaning up everything and taking down the set and props for you non-theater people) he said: “Mom, they might need some help tomorrow to reset all these frequencies and other technical stuff. Can I come and help?”
Me: “Sure. After you mow the lawn.”

Ryan (after I asked him if he wanted to come see the show again on closing night): No offense, but no, I don’t want to go and see your play.

Natalie: “I think I want to be in the next play.” (Hooray!)

So although I’ve LOVED doing this play, and it’s been nothing but a GREAT experience for me, I have to say I’m glad it’s over. But I’m sad that it’s over. Does that make sense? I mean, if this was my mid-life crisis, is that all I get? Can I do it again? Will I ever see these fun and exciting people I’ve spent the last two months getting to know? YES. I will. A few of the “Who” moms have already exchanged phone numbers and are planning to get together for dinner or games “once a month”. Which may in reality be once in a while, but still, I would love to get together and hang with them. They are just so much fun. And tonight we get to have our big cast party and bring our families, and that should be fun, too.

I just can’t say enough about what a good experience this has been. The people at Alpine Community Theater have been so organized, and our director, Laura, has been always encouraging, always positive. Even with all the kids in the cast, there was not chaos (well, not much) and it all ran very smoothly. Kudos to you, ACT!

I’m SO glad that I took a chance and auditioned. You may remember that I didn’t feel very good about that audition, and it was a horrible experience for me. But from that very hard thing came this very wonderful experience. If I had not done something hard, I wouldn’t have had such a good thing. I think we all need to remember that and do things that are hard or scary for us every once in a while.

Some people in the cast are all set to audition for the next production of Suessical that the Scera theater is putting on. Look, auditions are next week! That will give me just enough time to… Um, no. If I were young and single and had no family or job or other commitments, then SURE, I’d go and audition for another show. It was THAT much fun. But, I DO have a family, and it’s about time I went and fixed them some breakfast.