Closing Time

And it happens once again. As always, a show that opens must close. This one, though, I will particularly miss.

I don't know exactly what it is about the Orange County High School drama department. I really can't pinpoint it, but I'm really going to miss working with these kids. This young talent, much of which is still yet unrealized. Their dedication, their naivete, their love for what they do: it really makes my job fun. And what is my job, anyway, other than to make them shine as brightly as they can?

It's the innocence of high school drama that really gets me. Do you know how they toasted their director tonight? By lauding him for turning them into the "actors [they] are today." Don't they realize that this is just the beginning of their journey into theater? They have so much left to learn; they have so much more yet to experience. It's cute that they think they've grown so much already... just wait until you audition for college (and then professional) acting gigs. It's a whole new world out there that you're yet to experience, and I can't wait for you to get there.

Does this make any sense? I don't know. It's just another one of those times when I want the actors I've worked with to make it out there in the wild and wonderful world of theater and make a name for themselves. I want them to find that big break and shock everyone around them. I want them to become famous, but never forget where they've come from. I want them to be the stars they're destined to be, but stay footed in the ground... and remember that their roots are in OCHS, where they were once accompanied by a medical student who played piano for local high schools on the side.

When you boil it all down, I guess I just don't want them to forget me, because I know I'll never forget them.