Collegiate Times

The end is near, and my days as a cast member in “The Skin of Our Teeth” are coming to a spectacular close.

For the past week, we have been entertaining and engaging the public with the show.  According to audience feedback that I’ve received, we have been doing a fine job.

This will be my final installment of “Going Wilder,” and it’s time for us to take a look at a part of the theatrical process I haven’t touched on yet: the performance.

“Skin” opened last Thursday and any nerves, fears or misgivings that were running through the cast dissipated once we all hit the stage. We had a great first show.

If you’ve never performed for an audience, you might wonder exactly how we get ready to go on night after night.

The crew is at the theater an hour and a half before show time to set up. The cast joins them shortly after that. Back in the dressing rooms, you’ll find us grabbing a quick bite to eat, joking around, studying or getting pumped up with some slick tunes.

My tradition has been to try to read a few pages of a “Harry Potter” book until I realize I’m too excited and can’t concentrate. Sorry Dumbledore.

The ringleader of the circus at this point is no longer our director. Greg Justice has molded the show into what he wants, and then he lets us go on opening night. From this point on, the stage manager and his crew are in charge of keeping things going.

Once we’re in costume and ready to go it’s fairly simple. The house opens, the audience files in, the lights go down and, if we do our job, we get to be heroes.

Performing is an interesting thing. Every night I’m on stage is awesome, but it leaves me wiped out. This is why midway through the schedule we have a “dark” night.

On Monday, the theater was dark and the cast and crew were able to enjoy a night off, one of our first in weeks.

I’m sure this custom keeps some of us sane as the pressure mounts.

I’m happy to report that, for the most parts, the audiences have been really, really great. We haven’t even had too many people texting the entire time. Only that one person. Classy.

We have three more shows left, and if you haven’t come out yet, then you are rapidly losing time.

This is a great piece of theater and such is the nature of the art that when we’re done, it’s gone. “Skin” will be over at 10 p.m. on Saturday and never happen like this again.

There will be other productions and other opportunities for this show to be performed elsewhere, but our cast and crew bring our own special flavor to it and, well, nothing gold can stay.

I am beyond happy with how things have turned out. I count myself lucky to work in this show and with all the people who made it great.

I’d also like to say thank you to the Collegiate Times and its readers for letting me get up on this drama kid soapbox for a few weeks. It’s been a trip.

I’m not one to be preachy, but I do hope that readers have gained a new appreciation for the arts and artists in our community. They do what they do to give you a great time.

As always, thank you for reading, and get out and see the play.

This is Dan Waidelich and I’m “Going Wilder” for the last time.

A version of this article appeared in the Feb 25 issue of the Collegiate Times.