Go, Dog! Go!

You know that book Go, Dog! Go by P.D. Eastman? And how they talk about "Dog Parties" where EVERYBODY comes? Well, that's how my genes work. The Johnson family gives you a propensity for setting things on fire, a fairly high pain threshold, and the over-powering need for dog parties. When I have a party, or an outing, ar anything with my friends, I want ALL of them to be there. The more the merrier, but squared! We all thrive on being surrounded by the people we love.

This made Sunday much easier to bare. My show closed after a fabulous six week run and there's always a sense of anti-climax to deal with. Curtain call was done, costumes were shed, friends had gone home, and we were left standing there on the stage. Just the ten of us. You could kind of tell that we were stalling. We had given our hugs and our tokens of thanks and someone said, "Timmy's?"

Timmy Nolan's is our local pub and our "cast hangout," as it were. Almost every Friday and Saturday night you could find us there, drinking, munching on curly fries, and enjoying each other's company. Last night I figured that after the show I would pick up some food, maybe a bottle of wine, and spend my evening watching a good movie. Probably Batman Begins. Nothing too celebratory, but not melancholy either. I was OK with that. When everyone agreed we needed one more trip to Timmy's though, I was thrilled! It was one last Eclipsed dog party!

There are two levels at Timmy's, but the top (where you can actually hear each other) doesn't open until 5pm on Sundays. Well, one of our lovely cast members talked them into letting us go up early. It was kind of nice. They hadn't turned on the lights yet, so it was a bit dim and quiet. And we were all there in the biggest booth, passing stories about the auditions and the first production of Eclipsed eleven years ago. It was a wonderful way to end the run and say goodbye to everyone. (I know I'll stay really close to these women, though. They're marvelous and gorgeous every one of them!)

So, here's to Dog Parties, heart-covered boxers, fake chocolates, accessible keys, and the cast of Eclipsed.

Elvis has left the building...