Week 11:
A Theatrical Wedding

August 2, 2016

I stood backstage at Creede Repertory Theatre’s main stage, behind the stage right curtain, during our 20th performance of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. In the dim blue glow of the backstage lights, I tightened my apron, which tends to get looser throughout the show because my radio hangs off of it.

Through the opening of the curtain, I remained unseen by the audience, while still being able to see the actors on stage. It was the middle of one of my all time favorite songs in the show called “Love is my Legs.” Some people hate this song, but I think it is genius. The lyrics are extremely clever, but I won’t go into that right now. The reason I love the song is because it’s really dramatic and cheesy, to the point of bringing on four chorus members donned in graduation gowns.

I make a point to watch this scene from backstage every night because I enjoy it so much. Something about watching it for the 20th performance really hit an emotional chord in me.

I watched the four chorus members enter from the up stage entrance. Then I watched one of the leading actors, Joe, enter directly behind them. His entrance is meant to be a surprise. After the song is over, his character jumps up from behind the bed. The problem we had with staging this scene was getting Joe behind the bed without the audience noticing.

The staging we settled on works, but is a little ridiculous to watch from behind the scenes.

Though I had seen this moment time and time again, it felt like I was watching it for the first time. Joe army crawled out of the upstage curtain, then wiggled across the stage floor behind the chorus members as they traveled to the bed. Once he was safely behind the bed, he crouched up a little bit on his toes. I imagined it might have hurt his knees. And there he waited until the end of the song for his surprise entrance.

Watching that sneaky moment overwhelmed my heart with love for this art. We do absolutely ridiculous things in the world of theatre. From army crawling across the floor, to washing toy fish that get spit out on stage, to learning how to swaddle baby dolls – theatre is a mad world.

I love every single moment of it. I watched Joe crawl across that stage and it hit me that, here in Creede, I am surrounded by people who feel the same way I do. I am surrounded by people who not only love art, but have chosen to make a career out of it – people who believe art is just as important as math or science or English.

We can learn through art. We can share our experiences. We can imagine new experiences. We can learn about people from all walks of life. We can feel things and that, that is so beautiful.

This week was full of beauty for me.  I ran multiple performances of both Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence. On Friday night, I managed to get a seat at Boomtown, which, as always, was fun.

Today really took the cake though. Though Monday is our day off, many company members, including myself, took part of the day to put together a company cabaret. The purpose of the cabaret was to showcase the talents of the company members – the ones who are often seen on stage and the ones like me, who live more in the backstage realm.

The cabaret was in the Ruth. Before the performances started, there was a viewing of a documentary about Paul Stone. Paul Stone was an employee of CRT and a loved community member of Creede. The documentary highlighted his eccentric personality, artistic nature, and his habit of building cannons and blowing things up. Paul Stone died recently of ALS, so, though he is a common name in the theatre, I have never met him. Watching the documentary really helped to educate me about his life and why the people of Creede love him so much. It made me feel a little more connected to this town’s history.

After the documentary, we got started with performances. There were so many good acts – lots of beautiful live music, an incredible dance performance, and I performed two of my original poems. The theme of the night was unconventional love, so I chose two poems focused on my sexuality and coming to terms with my identity. My poems got really good responses and I was very happy.

The night just got better from there. It turned out that earlier in the day, Laura, the company manager, ran into two women in the parking lot of the Ruth. These two women were wondering if there was somewhere in town they could get married. Well, Laura made it happen.

After the final cabaret performance, Laura came out on stage to explain there was going to be a wedding.

Someone brought out the small table that we use in Watson and set it center stage with a couple of lit candles. Christy, the actor I cooked tech dinner with many weeks ago, officiated. The ceremony was so beautiful and full of joy. Afterwards, Laura brought out drinks and cake for the happy couple.

I was so honored to witness such a beautiful display of love and I wish the brides nothing but happiness.