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“And the clock begins to wind down.”

It’s so hard to believe that we’re already in our last week of By the Dawn’s Early Light! While we will surely have more blog posts as we wrap up our run, our playwright Mel turned in his final, very contemplative, very heartwarming post last night. (Sigh.)

And the clock begins to wind down.

How is it possible that as I write this, we as a company are about to embark on our final week of performances? Six more shows and the theatre will go dark. Costumes and make-up removed for the final time. Props placed in a box for some other times, others given as remembrance of a joyous creative experience, and others discarded like so many unwanted toys.

It’s going to be tough, no doubt. It has been some ride for me. The journey from first phone call, to table read, run through and first performance – first laugh being heard from the audience, as well as the sniffle of a tear, will be always remembered.

As Arturo Castro said: “Dude, we’re on f**king Theatre Row, bro!” – Yes we were, and we done good.

I have sat in the back of the theatre on many a night marveling as I watch Walter, our director, hunched over the control panel, intensely watching the performance, smiling, shaking his head, cheering, wipe a tear away and still continue to take notes as if it were the first day of rehearsals.

I watch Kevin move deeper and deeper into Freddie’s journey with the ease of a great painter who knows just what strokes are needed to fill in the colors of his canvas.

I still find myself welling up when Karen says: “Victor, when you leave it’s going to be quiet. I don’t like that kind of quiet.”

This has been a truly rewarding collaboration. I have made new friends and have enriched others. The seeds of future collaborations have been planted with the work that we have done as a company.

How did we all get here? Hard work and trust are often good starts to any collaborative endeavor and this one was no exception to that rule, but I think there were other factors involved as well – factors that perhaps in a month or so, when I find myself at a quiet moment, glass of wine in hand, it will come to me.  But for now this will have to do: The Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer Kahlil Gibran once wrote, “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”

To the ensemble cast: Kevin, Arturo, Gordon, Alicia, Wynn, Camilo, Karen, Mark, Gustavo, Flor, Damian and Jorge – thank you for truly giving of yourself and to your art to brings these stories so beautifully to life.

To Walter and Allison, you remind one constantly of why we do what we do with this life of ours in the theatre and the both of you do it inspirationally.

Yeah, I will be saying the same words as Angie does to Victor once the final curtain comes down  on Sunday  – “I don’t like that kind of quiet too.”

24 August 2011 ·

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Apple Core Theater Company produces emotional, entertaining plays by American writers. Valuing the immediacy and intimacy of theater, we strive to present plays that cut down to the core and go straight to the heart. Believing that theater should be accessible to all people, we are committed to providing affordable theater to New York City.

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