Costumes & Candy

Growing up, I loved Halloween. For an evening I was able to pretend to be someone or something else and be rewarded for it with a bucket filled to the brim with various fun sized candy bars. On Halloween you forgot your troubles, ignored your homework and became a princess, a cowboy or whatever else struck your fancy. While the night had to end and you still had to do your homework, Halloween was different than just playing dress up. There was a purpose, Halloween meant a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup in your lunch box everyday for the next two weeks, wrappers stuffed into jean pockets and lingering compliments on the originality and craftsmanship of your costume. For most people, Halloween is a once a year opportunity to lose themselves in someone else but, for me, that was never enough and so I found theater.

I suppose the connection between Halloween and theater is a bit odd to make. Yes, they both involve costumes. Yes, those involved typically are boisterous and uninhibited. Yet for me, this is not where the similarities end. There are many reasons that I love theater but as a performer the ability to find myself in someone else and to lose part of myself for an hour or four (if it happens to be unedited Shakespeare or Handel) is a near addictive experience.

But then it’s over. The curtain falls and the person you became disappears as the part of you that you left behind returns. Instantaneously you are transported back to exactly where you were just a few hours before; your troubles return and impending deadlines demand your attention. Yet, just like Halloween, the actual event may be over but your efforts have not been for naught. You are welcomed back from who you pretended to be to the person you are as the audience applauds your accomplishments. The next day, your name appears in the paper with (ideally) a glowing review as all your friends compliment your performance and promise to come see the show as soon as they get the chance.

That’s the magic in Halloween. For one night, everyone gets to experience the joy of performing without the stage fright, memorized lines and months of rehearsal. So however you celebrate tomorrow night, I hope you have as much fun as I have on stage and that you revel in your reward.