Done!

I love that word: done. It’s just so final, the ultimate accomplishment of some task, however grueling or full of frustration, or petty and meaningless, funny or embarrassing, triumphant or gross or exhausting or thrilling... whatever it was, whatever the emotions behind it, it is over, past and done. What a wonderful feeling!

The past three months of Theatre have been all of those things, at one point or another and there were certainly rehearsals when many of those feelings overlapped and layered (quite like the make-up and paint I spent the better part of three days picking out of my hair). There were days I wanted to leave – drop the course all together and run away from school, become a pirate just for the getup and say nice things (which is in great contrast to the script), speaking in an accent forever – but then there were other days when I would get home and thank God for the friends I was making and the opportunity to be in a class where pen and pencil were unnecessary and I got to sit on the floor (making witty-though-cynical comments to my fellow actors in hushed tones). It was the people that kept me in class; my friends, almost all new ones, who showed up (early!) every week and gave reason for me to do the same.

And now, with the final performances behind us, I find myself in reflection. Not surprising, perhaps, with so many memories from this semester to reflect upon. The play (though arguably there were very few moments of traditional “play” involved, with the exception for Helen and her shocked... volunteers) was not the content I would have picked out for this class of often giddy amateurs; the classes who thrive on things like Disney and country music and dreamed of putting on some happy-go-lucky musical ended up struggling through a Greek tragedy, full to the brim with violence and unmasked sexuality that made my stomach churn at first reading. But then, this course and this play have taught me so much more than a Broadway comedy ever could have.

I don’t think anyone from the cast or crew would forward the argument that our play was not a rather vulgar piece of art that trashes all hope for hope, but it does set a couple of things into a sharp reality. Our world is messed up. There are crimes committed every day around this world that dive far deeper into the nightmare of human cruelty than even the darkest parts of our script touched on. People do terrible things to each other with heartless and senseless cause. Children are killed with brutality. Women are stolen and raped. Our world is not a good place all the time.

The play concluded in a place of defeat; the Trojan women and men gave in to grief and violence and revenge; they lost hope and were overcome. It breaks my heart that so many people in the real world eventually come to the conclusion that life is meaningless external of money and power, which rule the world. But there is a contrast to the darkness of the world, and I think that sometimes we need something like this play to remind us just how dark the darkness is, so that when we are blinded by the goodness of His light, we will be able to really appreciate the sonshine.

So now the curtains are closing on this course and I am taking away from it so much more than I brought with me in September; I have made so many friends, learned a few new card games, had a number of singing-in-the-stairwell parties, told and listened to a long list of mostly funny jokes, spent time pretending to dance ballet/jazz/tap/etc, played some silly drama games and even participated (and dominated...) in some semi-illegal chair-racing. All and all it has been a wonderful year. Thank you to all of those who made this year (and especially this class) what it has been for me. You have stretched my imagination and blessed my life.