Flat Stanley Takes its Final Bows



This was set out in lobby

     Today the cast of The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley took their final bows. It was a very sad but fun day. After our performance we had a cast party in the blackbox studio. We talked about the good times we had shared over the last few months. There were many laughs but also so many tears. People (okay, just Brant) cried and blamed the salsa for being "too spicy". It was mild. No one wanted our show to end.
     We all joked about PSD (Post Show Depression) and how it was going to kick our butts later. Just that day I read some seriously depressing stuff on Twitter and Facebook. I will copy and past some of what I saw. This is only the day of mind you, there are probably going to be even more PSD tweets and posts as the week goes on and we slowly realize that there are no more rehearsals or performances. WHAT WILL WE DO WITH OUR LIVES?!

PSD TWEETS/POSTS

• @BOOMhollymonroe: Oh my God. This day is going to be the worst. #psd
• @KatieLoovesYou: I'm going to cry like a baby today.
• @KatieLoovesYou: This is the last day of being Mrs.Lambchop.
• @Eli_Oh_Jyes: @KatieLoovesYou YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MRS. LAMBCHOP! #ForeverMyStageWife
• @MireyaYvonne: @BrantMHudgins it's our last day of being paintings, but we will always be masterpieces
• @KatieLoovesYou: Just got done with 'Our Child is Flat' and 'The Funny Sunny Side'.....for the last time. I'm dying of sadness
• @Eli_Oh_Jyes: Love These Kids.
• @HEYitsChristin: Watching techs destroy the set. #sadday
• @BOOMhollymonroe: Its the salsa
• @HEYitsChristin: It's all over. Now on with the next show.
• @BrantMHudgins: You know what? I am not ashamed to be the big baby that I am. I'm not afraid to cry my eyes out, as many of you witnessed me doing today.
• Brant: Okay, I held on for as long as possible, I'm gonna go cry now. (Facebook)
• @KatieLoovesYou: Flat Stanley was a good show. A really good show. #psd
• @EmilyLoovesYouu: We had a good run, you guys. Flat Stanley was a good part of our lives. Now it's time to do another show, and make another fantastic memory.
• @Eli_Oh_Jyes: Post-Show Depression has, officially, begun. #PSD
• @KatieLoovesYou: When Cris sang "Stanley's adventures are over my friends. Though our tale is ending..." I started tearing up. Then cried through the bows.
• @KatieLoovesYou: Seeing William cry tore me apart. #LambchopLullaby #ALotOfTears
• @BOOMhollymonroe: Just got @Eli_Oh_Jyes's email and the PSD has finally sunken in.
• @BOOMhollymonroe: Oh my God. I'm crying.
• @BrantMHudgins: #PSD making me super sad, I'm gonna go cry some more.
• @KatieLoovesYou: I just pulled out some homework that I needed to finish from last week, and it had Flat Stanley lyrics doodled all over it. #PSDHitHard
• Brant: Guys, I'm not crying this is just me remembering how hot that salsa was. (Facebook)
• @TheYellowBrick4: #PSD #WheresMyRope?
• @BrantMHudgins: Dreading going to sleep because that's when I REALLY start crying. #PSD

   So as you can see, a lot of us really felt the depression sinking in. I think I would have too if I hadn't seen something that day.

     That day I went up to the costume loft to return my Mona Lisa dress and saw an old friend of mine. It was a dress set out, hanging by the entrance. I could tell someone had recently moved it because I would've noticed it before. It was covered in black sequins with different colored sequins making all kinds of geometric shapes. I recognized it immediately.

     It was the dress I wore my first time ever performing at the Harbor Playhouse. I used it for a one act festival a long, long time ago. That festival was my first real taste of theatre and really what made me fall in love with the art. I thought it was fate that I see it that day.

     It was fate because as I thought I was saying goodbye to Flat Stanley I realized that you don't say goodbye to shows like that. Not really. I learned the basics in that sequin dress. I learned about how to really pull off a great show. I made friends in that show that I still have. That is where I met Brant, who was my fellow painting (Napoleon) in Flat Stanley. I didn't say goodbye to him. I also remember how I felt preforming that one act play. It felt like I had made it to the "big theatre". Looking back I laugh at what I thought was "big theatre". That was nothing. That was rehearsing every other day for an hour after school then doing two or three free performances. Flat Stanley was rehearsed for months, three to four hours a day, performed multiple times a week for weeks and people paid to see us. If the last time I wore that dress, and you had told me people would have paid to see me, I would've laughed in your face.

    I didn't cry after that. I new Flat Stanley would live on with me. I had learned so much from it and I would never lose that knowledge. I also experienced even "bigger" theatre. Maybe years from now I will look back and say "Wow! I thought that was 'big theatre'?!"