Well, kinder, we've come to the end. Tonight - after Santa saved our devilish children one last time - we cleaned our faces, packed our makeup, and took apart the set board by board. By 11:30 our ghostly children's theater (not to mention our home for the past two months) was no more. It may have just been me, but our German accents on the ride home (the typical after-effect of each performance and rehearsal) had a nostalgic timbre.
Earlier this week, Bil asked me to write a post about the experience of working on understudying Conrad. Now, it doesn't seem fitting to write about the process of creating Conrad because at this point he's lived a life; he started as an idea, became real, did a lot of growing up (with a few awkward spells), bounced onto the stage, and (tonight) away from me.
I do, however, want to talk about one aspect of working on Conrad: the ensemble. Most of the work that went into the role was learning how to read, communicate with, and trust the other Devilish Children, even though I hadn't been with them in a while. The true delight about working on Conrad - the reason why I'm lucky to have done so - was how readily the other actors drew me into their clan. When I stepped into the opening tableaux every night, it was with the certainty that Cruel Paul would back me up and Polly would hold my hand.
The ensemble is why, though I miss the show already, I can't be sad that it's over. This wonderful, intelligent, talented group of people made the show great. And it's this ensemble that will continue to make shows great into next season and beyond. In clearing away our set, we made a our space plastic - distinguished it as a room once again ready to be filled with our collective dreams.
Jeremy, Anna, Mishelle, Chad, Judith, Bil, Rachel, John, and Kristi: auf wiedersehen. Until we see again.
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