We presented “School of Rock” one final time last weekend on Saturday, April 21. It was my first show at Arapahoe. Originally, I was on the technical crew that worked on the set. However, my schedule quickly reached an overwhelming point, and I stopped coming for a few weeks. That was when one of my friends told me I was on run crew. Being on run crew means you change out the set between scenes. At this point my schedule had cleared up, so I went to rehearsal that day, talked to Mr. Ahern and Zachary Caylor, the stage manager, and they decided to let me rejoin the show. I had a blast, and I never could have predicted the impact “Post Show Depression” (PSD) would have on me in the days to follow closing night.

Being involved in the musical takes up a lot of one’s time, especially when you are in the cast or on run crew. For the past month, I have spent most of my time after school at rehearsal until 6:00 pm. And just because rehearsal was over didn’t mean I would stop thinking about the musical. The songs ran through my head every night and I could not stop singing them. Then, school would arrive the next day and the show was all I could talk about. The musical was my entire life for a short, intense period of time.

Now that the show is over, I have way too much free time on my hands, and I feel some serious withdrawals. When working on a show, you talk to people you maybe wouldn’t always talk to or cross paths with, and you are with them for hours on end. Now we only see each other for a few minutes at a time in the halls on our way to separate classes. I would constantly look forward to rehearsal after school, and it made me so happy and excited. Now I go straight home after school, with nothing to do but homework (which I do not look forward to). I feel very anxious, agitated, and stressed without this thing to look forward to everyday. The worst part: PSD from “School of Rock” won’t go away until we start working on next year’s fall play.

However, Mr. Ahern said something to the entire group after the last performance that I found inspirational. We were standing in a large circle, on the now empty stage, when he told us that when shows end, they don’t really leave, and that we have all contributed new theatre “ghosts” to the stage. He told us that if we tried really hard, we could still see the shape of the pirate ship from “Treasure Island” onstage. He told us that when we start to miss the show, we should go sit in the house of the theatre and watch the story come alive again. Although I didn’t take part in the fall play, I still can feel the presence of the ship from watching the performance in the audience.

Now, as I sit in the house of the theatre, writing this article, I am finding that Mr. Ahern’s words are very true. The stage is constantly changing, as preparations for Mr. Arapahoe are occuring now, but I can still make out the shape of the turntable center stage. Although my view of the show was very limited from being backstage most of the time, I can still visualize what the show looked like from the audience’s perspective. I can watch the show and listen to the band once again. 

And people still hang around the theatre even though the show is over. Everyone feels some degree of PSD, it is not something we go through alone. I can always talk to the wonderful people I have met in theatre. We do not stop being friends after the final bow. The people in drama are a family, and the theatre is our home. It is part of us, and the memories of the shows never go away.