The Magic of Theater

Since I was named after a musical ("No, No Nanette" from the 1920s), maybe it's no surprise love theater as much as I do. In addition to naming me after a musical, I remember my parents taking me to a musical at what is now the Ordway Performing Arts Center back in the 1960s when I was six or so. I don't remember what it was, but I remember going.
In high school, I figured out that I wasn't meant to act - and I was definitely not meant to sing. I usually got to be an extra (an aging nun in "Murder in a Nunnery," the wench in "Once Upon a Mattress"). Then I was asked to be an assistant director for "Mattress" and realized that I was much better off behind the scenes (or in the audience).
The first play I remember seeing at the Guthrie Theater was "Oedipus The King" with a high school class. We sat way off on the side and I saw how the flowing blood was created when Oedipus tore out his eyes (small pouches in his hands that he popped at a key moment). that image stayed with me - I think it was the first time I realized that these magical moments on stage had a very real and practical method behind them.
Another one I remember was "My Sister in this House" at Actor's Theater (performed on campus at St. Thomas). It was a horrifying story and probably the first time I saw Sally Wingert perform (a long-time Twin Cities favorite). That story is still with me and I'd never see it again (no matter who is in it).
These images (and hundreds of others) stay with me longer than movies or TV. I think it's the immediacy, the knowing that it's a LIVE performance and there's no rewinding or editing allowed.
The best performances pull you in and can transform your life as you watch lives being transformed on stage. You can feel the emotion of the performer - whether it's written as a stage direction or something that unique person brings out on stage.
So yes, I love theater. Marie says I go more shows than anyone she knows (besides people who are in the business). In the last few years, I've volunteered at several smaller theaters and at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. It's a fun way for me to contribute and do more than sit in the audience or send a check.
Our love of theater is what brought Marie and I together. She spent years working as a stagehand and I spent years sitting in the audience. We still haven't figured out if I ever saw a performance while she was working - probably. Now we go together or we go separately and talk about it afterwards. I remember one play we saw that we both hated; we still spent hours discussing it.
My favorite moment at any show is after the lights come down and before the performers take the stage. I close my eyes and take a breath, feeling the anticipation in the audience and that of the actors, musicians, and others involved. I open my eyes, the lights come up, and then it happens - magic!