Scenes from the Past

Tonight Jim and I walked up to the high School to see the play "Antigone". A rather deep tragedy based on the writings of Sophocles, the interesting twist is that the play is set in 1920's Chicago as opposed to ancient Greece. As our daughter is taking Tech Theater this year to satisfy her art credit, she worked extensively on the set design. Her crowning accomplishment was the bust of Creon, King of Chicagoland, which also served as a lighting prop. It was interesting to watch her spending hours of her own time placing paper mache over a mask, and then building up the upper torso of Creon. We had quite the mess in the dining room for a week, but the end result was worth it. At any rate, she had given me a primer on the play, and she went to see it with her classmates opening night, which was Wednesday. She came home with a glowing report of the production, so we decided to see it tonight. As I looked at each character when they came on stage, I found myself reflecting on the child under the makeup. There was the kindergartner who came over to play after school, and the boy from second grade who made us all laugh, the redhead now a gray old lady who's dad I worked with so many years ago, the pitcher from our softball team, the boy we carpooled with for PSR, and the girl who excels at everything she does. All those little faces from years ago now transformed not only by their makeup into these talented almost adults. Where will they all be next year? Pursuing dreams on the stage at college? Following other career paths? Who knows, but for two hours tonight, they brought down the house.