If you had asked me at the beginning of the semester whether I would have liked our Macbeth performance to be cancelled, secretly, I might have said yes. “It’s when ALL my other finals are due, I could use the extra time to study, and is the performance really going to be that great anyway?” I could see myself saying. But my reaction on Friday was completely the opposite.
After our last rehearsal on Monday, I had some time to reflect on the hard work we and our OSHER participants have put in throughout the semester and the relationships we have built with them. I was so excited to see our participants shine on stage, and I could tell how eager they were to act. So when I got word that the show might be cancelled, I was very disheartened. Yet even then I did not think it would become a reality – coming from Boston, where snow hardly ever cancels plans and I would drive to high school in 4 feet of snow on a learner’s permit, I always have high hopes!
I was in class when I got the final word that the show was cancelled, and my professor actually asked me if something was wrong! I know how excited our participants were about the show, and I was really excited to see everything come together, costumes and all. I was also excited to see the children perform – the other groups kept talking about how our act would be better than theirs, but I think it is a different type of joy to see kids who are just learning their first Shakespeare play perform. I remember my first time acting in Shakespeare play in sixth grade. It was messy, but there was something special about it.
We did not get to see the final show, but I do not think our effort was for nothing. I learned how to direct actors having very little acting skills myself, I built relationships, and I learned to understand some of the deeper themes in Macbeth.