For the Seniors Taking Their Final Bow…
photo by Anthony Durzo
by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
Dear Seniors,
So this is it. The last time you sit in that tiny dressing room trying to adjust your mic tape before it peels off mid-scene. The last time you hear someone yell "places!" and suddenly your whole body buzzes. The last time you whisper good luck to your scene partner, even though you've said it a hundred times this week.
Your last high school show. I know—it’s a lot. And maybe you’re already crying. That’s OK. You’re allowed. This stuff matters. More than most people will ever understand.
Because here’s the thing. Theatre isn’t just a class or an after-school activity or something you do because you like pretending to be a dancing fork. It’s a second home. It’s your weird little family. It’s the place where you figured out how to be brave, how to listen, how to laugh when everything goes wrong, and how to hold it together when the lights go up and your mic is definitely not on.
This final show? It’s not just a closing night. It’s the end of a chapter that probably changed you. Maybe you found your best friends here. Maybe you found yourself. Maybe you finally hit the note you’ve been chasing for four years, or maybe you discovered you’re actually really great at wielding a fog machine.
And whether you played the lead or moved furniture in blackout or spent the entire show wearing a giant mascot head while sweating through your soul, I hope you know how much you mattered. This art form takes all of us.
So I hope you soak up every second. Laugh too hard. Hug your castmates a little tighter. Let the tears come during the senior circle. Thank your director, even if they gave you notes in the middle of your birthday party. Take a million blurry backstage photos. Belt the final number like it’s the last note on Earth.
And when it’s all over, and you’re standing on that stage with mascara on your collar and glitter in your hair, I hope you feel proud. I hope you know this show—your show—was better because you were in it.
And no matter where life takes you next, you’ll always be a theatre kid. That never really leaves you.