Fall Festival of Shakespeare,
I suppose this is a rather impersonal way to address a letter. However, I want to thank so much more than the people involved. I want to thank the opportunity, the lessons learned, and Shakespeare himself, although he has long passed and so he won't be able to read this.
It's silly really, to think that a program I was involved in for only a few months put of each year could change my life. But it did. It is silly to think that someone as introverted as me would find their solace surrounded by the most courageous, outgoing, attention loving people. But I did. Maybe it is even silly that the person who brought us all together has been dead for hundreds of years. But he did.
If I wanted to say what this program has meant to me, though, I would simply post my statement about it that I am still convinced I was asked to make with nefarious intent, because everyone knew I was going to cry reading it. This is different. I want to thank everyone.
To my fellow crew members-thank you for helping me see that sometimes it is those of us behind the curtain who give the audience that push into our world. To the teachers, I could never hope to thank you enough for saving this program when all hope for it seemed lost, and for deciding to give the festival a chance-I can only hope you are glad for it. To the cast, thank you for all of your kind words, for making me feel more involved than I have any previous year, for taking whatever I threw your way in stride, and of course for being so breathtakingly talented that you make me positive this is how I want to spend my life. Magic happens here. To the directors, thank you for believing in all of us so much, you might not know it but it was often your words to us in passing that pushed us when we wanted nothing more than to give up. To the audience, thank you-without you we would be a bunch of crazy people yelling at empty chairs. To the Portland Playhouse, thank you for allowing us this opportunity, for most of us it is the closest we have ever come to truly belonging, and feeling important-not to mention gaining the experience to push us on in the crazy real world of showbiz. To the other schools, thank you for sharing with us your work, and for allowing yourselves to be taken by ours.
To Shakespeare...
You were a genius. You somehow captured the human experience in every single one of your plays. Every year my love and appreciation for your work has only grown. I love every one of your characters, good or bad. From Hermia to Oberon, from Don Pedro to Don John, from Macduff to Macbeth. I feel for each of them, even if I booed or hissed at them, I really just wanted to give them a hug (Did anyone ever hug Macbeth? Probably not.) I wish I could ask you questions about the characters intents, about what their words meant, pasts, how they came to be so strong or brave or distraught or crazy...but I can't, and I guess that's part of the magic. That we are left to draw conclusions and inferences, and for that reason no performance is ever the same. I want to thank you for all of this-for being so brilliant, for capturing so much, for leaving behind such amazing work, and for inspiring so many kids. I wish you could have known how long your legacy would last. But, then, we have seen the results of knowing the future, and I would hate for you to kill a king...
I will hold this festival with me forever. The friends I made, laughs and tears, lessons learned...I could never thank any of you enough for all you have done for me, but I think we all feel the same, so I will leave it at this: I want to heap praise on the festival, and reinforce family.
Because it pleaseth Sarah,
Shelby