Out With a Bang!

My Drama class performed ‘THE WESTERN TALE’ last week – an original play I wrote several years ago based on Shakespeare’s ‘The Winter’s Tale’ but with a western twist. It is the second time I have produced the play myself, but it has been performed elsewhere as well. It’s a dark comedy about an influential man who let’s his jealousy go to extrem

It was fitting that my last show as a drama teacher went out with a BANG – literally! Not only was it a western, but on closing night there was a major power outage in our area that made all the lights and sound go out with a ‘bang’ exactly as the lights were supposed to dim on the final scene! Talk about timing!

At first I thought we had blown something – overloaded the system or blown a breaker. We took a couple of minutes to check things out and just as I was about to apologize, the audience began to hold up their phones as flashlights. Next thing I knew, the stage manager sent the cast out for curtain call as practiced and they were able to take their final bows to the twinkling lights of a hundred cell phones! It was actually kind of magical  – a first for me in my nearly twenty years teaching theatre – and it will certainly be a moment to remember!

Overall, the performances went off in grand fashion. I am so proud of the kids who starred in the play. The lead male was especially convincing in his role as a tyrant turned sentimentalist, but there were several outstanding performances.

I can’t help but feel somewhat melancholy. I am retiring from teaching public school, which means I will also be folding up my director’s chair. I will definitely miss it, but I know it is time for the next chapter in my life. And so I say, “Bravo!” to the many young people I have mentored over the years. It’s been a good run and I look forward to being in the audience now, as a spectator only!