Sally did something different with our backstage. Something I’ve never seen at the Santa Maria Civic Theatre in the last twenty years. She took down the high fake walls we call flats and put up side curtains called wings. It gives on stage a sense of theatrical majesty you don’t get with a fully representational set. It also makes the backstage much more inclusive because now we can actually watch the action on stage while waiting for our turn.<\/p>\n

Young Frankenstein Ensemble<\/h3>\n

I’ve been a part of this theatre for a long time, and this is my fifth play with the Santa Maria Civic Theatre since I stopped touring with MCT. It’s my first musical (that isn’t a cast of 60+ school children). Young Frankenstein is also the best time I’ve had backstage since high school.<\/p>\n

Now don’t get me wrong, I think the highest praise you can get as a cast member is “You are such a professional”. I did a lot of work learning lines and making a character as Felix Humble in last year’s Humble Boy. At the end of the run, I felt like the cast truly created something together.<\/p>\n

This show is different somehow. It feels less like sculpting and more like just squishing the clay between your fingers. Everyone always says this, but being part of the Young Frankenstein ensemble is like being part of a family. At some point between frantically pulling off lab coats, tying up the tap shoes, and zipping up each other’s dresses the play came together as a something more than just learning lines and songs. It’s about bursting together from that shadowy dark world of backstage and then rushing back again, tumbling over each other like puppies, and asking those magical four words, “What’s the next scene?”<\/p>\n