The other night, as I lay in the dark trying to nod off, I started drafting my curtain speech – not that I’ve been invited to give one, but in my current position here at City Theater, I am occasionally called upon to change my hat and do something I have, yet, to do. And as a sempiternal Girl Scout, I am ever prepared.
My opening line was to introduce myself: “Hi, my name is …”
Then, I would drop my catch phrase, a one-liner that would, hopefully, make everyone laugh. “… and hanging out here at City Theater is my day job.”
I’d pause while the audience reacted.
“I know, right??!!” I exclaim. “Who’s jealous?”
The rest of the speech is mostly just about those things that are coming up and an introduction to the evening’s performance, but it’s those first crucial two or three seconds that can make or break the experience for both the presenter and the audience.
In theater circles, there’s a question as to the value of the curtain speech. Not that it’s not valuable. It absolutely is. A good curtain speech invites the audience to make a connection: with the speaker, with the venue, with the production, with the cause that’s being represented. A bad one … ? Well, let’s just use the cliché: buzz kill. It can dampen the positive vibe in the theater before the show starts, and no one wants that.
Rumor is that directors hate curtain speeches. As a result, some productions will pre-tape the curtain speech rather than having someone walk up on stage and deliver a live oration. For me, the risk in doing that is the very real possibility that the message will be lost. It’s easy to ignore some disembodied voice over a speaker. It’s a lot more difficult to ignore the smiling, middle-aged woman standing on the stage, who impishly declares, “hanging out at City Theater is my day job!”
I didn’t grow up in the theater. While I was cast in a bit part in a single play in high school and I have basked in the glow of the footlights a time or two as an adult, acting isn’t my passion. But I am a literature aficionado, and I read Shakespeare for fun, because … it is fun, isn’t it? The language of theater is fascinating. Like calling the speech before the play the “curtain speech.” It makes a sort of sense, doesn’t it? And it’s beautiful in its simplicity.
That’s what I love about theater. It is, truly, beautiful, in its simplicity.
This weekend, City Theater will be joining several businesses and community organizations on Main Street to celebrate one of Maine’s greatest treasures — winter. Biddeford will be celebrating Winterfest starting Friday, Feb. 7, and City Theater will be hosting The Magic Bus: a Tribute to the Who. Tickets are $30 and available at citytheater.org/tickets/. The house opens at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m.
I’ll be here wearing my manager’s hat, and who knows, maybe someone will let me get up and give my curtain speech. I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. Demille.
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