I have not been a member of this forum for a very long time....but I have been an active reader for a while.  Now that I am a member I wanted to post about something I have been going through the past couple of days. 

 

I have been an active member of a local theater group for the past several years.  We closed on Sunday with Disney's Beauty and the Beast.  (Great Show...I recommend it to anyone!!)  What I found was that it has been so hard to let this show go.  From the cast and all the way to the story, I have been in a constant funk the past few days.   Like I said I have been in many shows where I have felt sad...but this is almost depression stage.  One thing about our cast is the fact that, being that many are going back to school...I may never see them again. 

 

My question to everyone is ...how many of you have gong through this sort of thing...and how do you get over it?  I feel bad because my home life and my job is suffering because of it.  

 

I can't help but think there is something wrong with me.  

 

I know...it is the theater bug....it will pass.  lol  

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

I wonder what we should call this condition. 

 

 

But somehow mixed into it all is an acceptance.  When working on theater projects its OK to be who you are.  Techies can love tools and 'fascinating' details to obsessive levels.  Actors can love characters, voices and themselves--just a bit.  Directors can be control freaks who dare to step out and manage huge casts of uncontrollable people.  Nobody thinks too hard about normal life (the one where you earn a living)--and yet you are suddenly alive and living life.

 

The only cure for the let down is to take up a new show.

Originally posted by vickifrank The only cure for the let down is to take up a new show.

 

I couldn't have said it better myself Vicki. Barring another production though, I say throw yourself at some other hobby or past time, it seems to be the second best cure.

 

Originally posted by frandor25 I envy of anyone who makes acting their career.  I am so jealous!

Fran, I do make a living from the theater, but there are still those shows that just kill you when they're closed. There's no escaping the low after that high. It's not too bad when you go from show to show, but when you have a break between productions...PHEW, it can be a killer.  Like right now for instance, we just finished a competition peice. We worked on it 3 1/2 months, we had blow ups and there's even a person I do not ever want to work with again. But, it was a very thought provoking show, it really gave me a HUGE stretch in my abilities, I got an Outstanding Performance, we got the Best Ensemble, but the show isn't advancing and it just drives a spike through my heart that it's over, and all that work, those characters, this "unit" we created is no more.

 

Yeah, it NEVER gets any easier.

 

Easy it ain't, but not much that is easy is worthwhile.

 

Sconjott:  You may not have that wonderful unit, but you have found several wonderful people to work with--and clearly you are valued by them as well.  It doesn't get any better than that.  I hope that you get get to work with each of them again....it'll only get better.