Being part of the audience.

Anna in the Tropics

A poster for "Anna in the Tropics"

I was running late. Rushing out through the campus I felt that excitement of getting to see the live performance. It has been a while since I went to a theatre, so the opportunity to go to a live performance was very pleasant, not to mention that it was happening right on my campus.

As I was getting closer to a theatre and saw two old ladies standing by the entrance and collecting tickets, a smile appeared on my face. The theatre begins right here for me.

I went through the open doors and immediately saw the seats, the stage, and decorations. I could smell the theatre. It has this dusty yet sweet smell that not even movie theatre can imitate. To my surprise the audience was full. I stood right in the middle for searching a better seat. I wanted to have the best seat in front of the stage in order to be able to observe everything during the play. And then I found one.

While waiting for the play to begin my eyes start wondering around. I have noticed how diverse the audience was. Before my arrival I was so sure that I would see only students in the audience, but to my surprise there were husbands with wives, elderly citizens, and just people who came alone like me. We were all different in so many ways…the age, ethnicity, occupations, and maybe social levels, but there was one thing that engage us, one thing that connect us tonight. We all came to watch the play “Anna in the Tropics” directed by Walter Kmiec. We were one big community.

The performance begins with a song by Buena Vista Social Club “Chan Chan”.  People in the audience stopped talking or using their cellphones, everyone got silent. Through the entire play we all respond like one organism. We laughed together if characters on the stage said or did something funny. We held our breaths together if someone in the play cried or suffered from pain.

I realized how beneficial the small stage was. I was loosing the notion of being outside of the play and feeling instead the strong participation in the story. I saw every detail of the costumes and make-up, even the sweat appearing on actors’ faces. The smell of the hair spray reached my nose.

There is always a bit of a sadness coming into your heart once the play ends. It feels that now you have to go back to your own reality and play that “you” role, but the only difference in your play is that you have no director who tells you what and how to perform. You have no script to refer yourself if you forget something while “practicing”.

While driving back home I could not stop thinking about the characters I was with for almost two hours. I was comparing my life to theirs as they were comparing their life to “Anna Karenina”. These two hours of live performance gave me the incredible energy and part of this energy was coming from the audience I have shared this experience with.