For love of the ... stage.

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances..." -Shakespeare's As You Like It

The Bard's comments ring true to many and even more so for extroverts, actors and stooges alike.

I just finished a run of, little known, "Adam's Eve" at the Maplewood Barn in which I played "Mark Matthews" - never heard of him, or the play, have you?  The question that was asked of me throughout the 8+ weeks of rehearsals, long nights, blocking, show, set builds and memorization was why? Why did you do it? You don't get paid, you spend time away from your friends, your family, your job, why? Why do it? Well there's one reason; for the love of the stage, for the love of the cast, for the love of the crew, for the thrill of applause for the import of doing a job well done of making something your own of being proud of what you accomplished not by  yourself but with your team.

As a community theater actor there are roles that stand out, roles everyone remembers, admires and wants to play; Hamlet, Willy Loman, Stanley Kowalski, King Lear, and if you bring in the modern musicals; anyone in RENT, "The Phantom" (although there is some debate here) and "Prisoner 24601" or Jean Valjean in Les Misérables just to name a few, but it's the little known roles that are so meaty, so good, to community actors. With the supporting "unknown" roles you get to make them your own, embellish on one line in a script and when all is said and done, take them with you. That's why I do the shows, that's why we do the shows. That's why we defend public art, that's why we participate in public art. We do it for ourselves, we do it for our communities.

As "Mark" I got to play, I got to enlighten (a little), I got to make people laugh and as Billy Joel once said make people "forget about life for a while." I got to put myself into a character on paper and make him my own but I didn't leave unscathed he got to enter my psyche and physique as well. A character who is hopelessly devoted to his wife and kids is easy to play, while a character who is always eating is not.

Throughout it all I made some new friends, heightened a discipline, worked as a team, laughed, bled and even cried a little when it was time to say goodbye. However it is not goodbye forever, it's not a complete goodbye, a little bit of "Mark", "Eve", "Katie", "Adam" and all the rest of the cast and crew will remain with me. The memories, the fun and even the rough patches will remain.

So why do we do it; For love of the...stage, for love of the cast, for love of the memories, the thrill of entertaining and knowing you are part of something bigger than yourself.