And Just Like That - It is Over!

As You Like It closed on Saturday. The ending of a show is always bittersweet.

With As You Like It, the journey proved fruitful, fun, and educational. There were many memorable moments, including a middle school student saying, "I couldn't understand what they were saying at first, and then I just listened, and I got it, ... thank you for the show." Also, the wall of sound, cheers that erupted during the curtain of our early morning school production. "Oh my goodness, I thought, I need to remember this moment and seek other means to engage with these students in the future."

The production harkened back to 1599 in terms of audience participation, but with the idea of creating a new space for interaction. We engaged in a bit of silliness, but more importantly created a platform, perhaps a microsom, or space that welcomed, heard (with or without agreement) all voices. The work incorporated all voices into the fabric of being together as one, a community of people.

A goal for the production was to create the space for honoring opinions, a world that valued interaction, and celebrated engagement. If we consider all the world a stage, what does it take for us to become players? What does it take to engage in community discourse? Who has the right to speak, and to whom should we listen? How do we decipher the truth from the lie? There were many lies spoken in As You Like It, when is a lie okay? Is a lie okay?

As You Like It as a whole extended the invitation to engage. Together, we shared words, and breath, made connections, learned to listen a bit closer, saw one another, and hopefully felt empowered to respond in our own personal way. Many did, and I am thankful for their sense of play and courage.

My most excellent thanks to those who took the journey into the world of Arden - the actors, technicians, artistic team, school teachers, middle and high school students, audience members. It was "O wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful, and yet again wonderful!"