Something I’ve noticed that I really like about touring, is seeing murals of other shows on the backstage walls. I’ve actually always wanted to create one...so I did tonight!
What’s always fascinated me about show murals is what’s behind them. No, not the cinder block wall...what they mean, the fact that another cast, no matter the show, once toured through the same space, calling it home for a night, or a weekend, or even and entire rehearsal process before setting out across the country.
Each show has its own story, each cast and crew member who signs their name has an entire life and career be it for that one show, or for a lifetime after this first time out. It makes me think of something I’ve always imagined growing up...The idea that every song, every line, every dance move hangs in the air after it’s produced. That the energy of it never goes away, almost like a ghost...the theater collects these notes, words, and moves and hangs on to them forever.
You start a show with an empty stage, and leave the same way, but my theory is that that space is never really empty, nor is it ever the same again. It’s filled, so full in fact that’s you can actually feel the energy move through your body as you take the stage for the first time or take that last look after load out...it’s the energy of what has been, what is now, and what will be thereafter.
