Enter Left: Spring. Cross Down/Center

Every time of the year is good for theatre as far as I am concerned. I have been in plays during every season, and each has both its advantageous and disadvantages when it comes to mounting a production. Yet there may be something a bit extra about being in a production as spring is blossoming outside.

Though the winter in this area was the most mild in my lifetime, in general winter can be a cold, dark, unpleasant thing. (Unless you are in a play, but I digress.) Once the green and the warmth and the birds and such begin to emerge again, even the sourest of people begin to feel a little better. Since the dawn of time spring has been venerated as a time of rebirth. Of life. Of creation.

In theatre we bring things to live. Characters are born, or reborn. Cast and crew are busy with the act of creation. And, God willing, that creation will spread pleasantness throughout everyone who comes into contact with it. Much like spring. Perhaps that is why spring time seems to be such an appropriate time to be in a play, or to just see a play.

Many companies have a perennial "spring musical." I can't help but think that this is due to the relief that comes with the thawing of winter and the melting of the crust that has fallen over the word, and over our own spirits in the time between the many holidays and the end of cold weather. We often like to sing when we are feeling better, and perhaps the tradition of a spring musical is somehow attached to that. Everybody wants to sing, or at least listen to people sing. (You will note that a spring musical is usually an upbeat, comic musical, though of course, not always.)

Even the fragrances of the theatre seem enhanced to me at springtime. Most people don't believe me about this one, but I find that the latent smell of any location seems enhanced in temperate weather. The heat of the summer time can scorch it, and the depth of winter can deaden it, but the delicate spring balance seems to just bring out the smell of paint, saw dust, cloth and overheated lighting instruments more so than any other time of year. I realize this could be just a personal quirk, but even so, I don't fail to notice it.

Sadly I am not in a show this spring. And though I love being in a good show any time of year, even a bad show is more tolerable Between March and June, I dare say.