December 11, 2006
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The Daily News
1 Closing night of Behind Closed Doors was one of the most memorable closing nights of any Show in recent history.2 Allow me to back it up a bit. On Thursday evening, after the Show, I got home rather late and had to hit a DN deadline. But I was also concerned that the students putting on the Show were in the midst of a major rookie mistake, that of changing the Show in order to get more laughs. Common rookie mistake.
3 I knew I wasn’t going to be able to begin helping them repair it the next day because I was booked from morning to late evening. I also figured that I would not be able to round them up and discuss things with them before they got to the Theatre on Saturday night.
4 There are times when my only alternative is to sort of throw notes to the DN, and it might fix things. When things need correcting in a Show, it needs to go out there. I placed my notes publically in the DN knowing full well that it would get a response.
5 The intention never was to hurt anyone, but really just to put a spotlight on the direction the Show was taking. It hurt some people. It wasn’t intended to do anything but to make them realize that I might not always be around to keep their Shows detailed and as professional as possible, and they needed a sort of “final exam”.
6 Some of the students felt that my tactics should be addressed and brought into question, and it created some very hurt feelings on Saturday night. I explained that it was the only way I truly could have reached them to the point that they would have listened seriously.
7 Granted, it was a bit Machiavellian, but I felt that showing some discipline and reverance for one’s final work on a performance night would make them all think sharper, perform better, and produce a higher quality production. They were hurt, angered, and even felt betrayed. I just wanted them to sharpen things up, and feared they were going to have a completely undisiciplined closing night, and that the DN notes were definitely in the best interests of the entire production. Those notes and terse observations were intended to teach, because it was a lesson that was essential if they are to one day do this without me.
8 We never really did reconcile that completely.
9 What DID happen was that the lights went down, the Show began, and it was one of the best damned Shows in the history of the Drama Workshop. Period. Everything was magnified perfection. It ran smoothly; it instantly engaged the audience; flowers were everywhere, and it was one of those magic evenings when a Show just ran on all cylinders.
10 Every play worked, and worked beautifully. The concentration level was heightened, yet relaxed and controlled, and the lines all landed. Scene changes ran well; light and sound cues were right on the money; all props were used, and they probably cut ten minutes off the evening, always a sign of a well-run production. In short, it was so good that the audience ended up hooting and hollering. The Show ended to thunderous applause, at least as thunderous as you can get in the Theatre on a wet Saturday night.
11 The audience members swarmed the Cast and Crew. There were flowers, hugs, and mirror-ball madness as the music swirled around the most triumphant Show in the Workhop’s history. Those students rose to the challenge and showed the world that they were indeed, now ready to fly, and to put out Shows that keep and maintain the quality that had been laid down by six generations of Drama Workshop productions.
12 This was perhaps the greatest triumph of them all. In the long history of the YB Drama Workshop, I’m proud to say that Behind Closed Doors’ closing night will be remembered as one of the greatest single performances in the school’s history.
13 And it was the students who did it. To Sarah, Cam,Trinh, Suny, and Nhat, my sincerest apologies for hurting you and for maybe not approaching those notes the way I should have. But I also want all five of you to know that I am so proud of everything you have done, and of the tribute you have shown to all the Shows that went before you. To the Cast and Crew, congratulations on a maginficent performance.
14 And to the readers of the Daily News, you need to know that the YB Drama Workshop performed with as much grace and style as some of the best productions we’ve ever done. And we can only thank Sarah, Cam,Trinh, Suny, and Nhat for hanging in there and never giving up, and for always accepting any challenge I would put them through.
15 I’m thoroughly convinced that once it all settles down, and the reality of that miracle evening settles in, that those student could now grow and create Shows with very little input from me. They reached the pantheon level, and I’m confident that they can take this experience and adapt it to anything that comes their way in life., whether it’s challenging courses, lunatic professors, or seemingly conquering seemingly insurmountable odds. If they can do this, they can do anything.
16 Learning happened. And the community poured down to the stage in a scene I haven’t seen since we did Godspell so many years ago. There were flowers, hugs, autographs, smiles, group pictures, and one of the most wonderful traditions at YB remained, and remained better than ever before, all because of the efforts and pains those five had gone through.
17 Congratulations to each of you, as well as to the entire company of Behind Closed Doors.
18 Much of the audience actually followed the Company over to Denny’s after the Show. It was positively amazing! And then there was a classic Drama Workshop Denny’s trip, in keeping with that tradition.
19 On a personal note, before we all headed over to Denny’s, . I found myself standing alone inside the Theatre. Everyone had gone outside, and I was left in the silence, just standing alone in the back. I heard the laughter and shouts outside, echoing through the night air. I remained standing, pausing, unable to go out for some reason.
20 I kept staring at the stage. Just a half-hour earlier I had heard three clicks on the lighting monitor right before curtain call. When I finally approached the stage at that time, the song A Foggy Day by Michael Buble played.
21 Just a coincidence, but A Foggy Day was the music I used as curtain call music in my first show EVER. I thought back to when I first directed, and my very first Show, as I watched everyone else hugging and all, it was like I channeled them all out and as in a movie, I saw the post-show hugs of my very first Show, and then of all my Shows.
22 I stopped thinking about that, but staring down again at the stage, I began thinking of every great moment that ever happened on that stage, from my earliest Show, Silents, through all the great years and performances, the moments and memories, so many, too many surely to list here, but almost each one spun through my head in rapid-fire fashion and at warp speed, sort of like the crescendo in A Day in the Life.23 It all stopped at with visions of the final performance of the Drama Workshop, the one we had all just lived through. It was nothing short of a miracle.
24 No amount of words will be able to describe that moment, and I heard voices shouting, “Come on H!!!” followed by laughter.
25 I looked back throught the darkness at the Theatre, couldn’t help thinking of the final episode of Friends, when they all walked out of the empty apartment. I looked again down to the stage, and all around the Theatre.
26 “In a sec!” I shouted. I stood motionless in the silence. It was as though the entire world had stopped for fifteen seconds. This, I imagine, was my own moment. Nobody will ever know.
27 I looked back into the warmth of the Theatre, took one last look, smiled, turned, and opened the door to the night chill, and to the students waiting outside, ready to go to Denny’s and to celebrate. We climbed into the TOOONDRA and took off into the night.
28 I never looked back.
29 I just never looked back.
30 I won’t look back.
31 Have a lovely day.
32 Peace.
~H~
Congratulations
to the entire
Company of
Behind Closed Doors.
oh,
andthanks angels.
~H~
