Another Opening, Another Show

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest opened Thursday at Ephrata Performing Arts Center, my home away from home. Opening nights are always exciting times, the culmination of weeks of rehearsal, getting familiar with the text, finding each character's own story as well as the weaving together of all those stories into a bigger picture.

But the opening of a show is also the beginning of something. As our director (the inestimable Mr. Timothy Riggs) reminded us before that first curtain, we've just taken the first step of the journey. After that first performance, there are ten more to follow. (As I write this, we've done two, so now there are eight left.) Through those successive shows, there will inevitably be growth. To be certain, the basic bones of the show won't change. But we as an ensemble will not turn in the exact same performance twice; such is the nature of live theater. We will find new things, little nuances, each night. Some of them will be accidental and some will be conscious little choices. And through both, the organism of the play will evolve over its three-week lifespan. It's such a thrilling experience to be part of that maturation.

And as always, there is the beautiful organism of the ensemble itself. Seventeen actors, the director, the stage manager, the technical staff—all of us have come together for a common purpose. And it becomes quite the lovely little community; it always does. Some of these folks I've known for years and have worked with before. Others I met at the call-back auditions. And as always, I cherish the bond that we have all formed. It's always a little bittersweet, too, when the final show (and the cast party that follows!) ends. This particular chapter of our lives will be over, but I for one will have several new friends that I hadn't before and memories to treasure. I'm sure others feel the same.

And each of us will leave the experience the better for it. Not only have we interacted with a wonderful piece of American drama, but we also lived the communal experience of theater for a time. For me, there's nothing like it.