The crowd murmurs past the dressing room and the heavy red closed curtain, waiting to escape from their lives - work, politics, society - for a few blissful hours.
“Places in five!” your stage manager calls out from the doorway, though it seems far away; your mind is rushing through the many dances, songs, and lines you have spent months memorizing.
The overture begins to play in the distance. Reaching your ears, the music pulls you back to the present. Your friend places her hand on your shoulder. You look into her bright eyes and set your mirror down on the table dusted with blush, like snow in early December. Feeling the nerves and adrenaline mix inside you, your heart rate rises slightly.
“Ready?” she asks. The answer doesn’t really matter; it’s time to begin. Time for all the hard work to be worth it. But you nod anyway, a smile spreading across your face.
She pulls you in for a tight hug.
“Break a leg,” you encourage.
Smoothing out your white shirt with shaking hands in the wings of the stage, the curtains open, and lights flood the stage. The music speeds up, giving vigor to your mind with familiar melodies. You step into the heat of the stage, becoming someone else.
The words flow out of your mouth with ease. Emotions radiate off of you, and the audience soaks it up becoming plants needing your rays.
Strutting off stage, your breath returns to you until your next scene. The world feels brighter between scenes: life pulses through the air; energy radiates from the other actors; colors shine more vibrantly.
Later, as you finish belting your last note, the lights flash out. Roars of approval land on your ears as you and your castmates bow and run from the stage.
Your friend grabs your hand and embraces you in her arms. A pang of sadness tugs at your heart: it’s over. No more long nights laughing, drunk with exhaustion, as they bask in the lights of the stage. You will no longer have time with the people you hardly see outside of this sacred ground. Inside jokes will fade into the back of your memory.
But these connections go beyond the stage. You have a family you can trust to support you onstage, backstage, and in the halls of school. Though some cast members might be leaving, next year is another show and another family.