Gorey Stories came down last night at 6pm. At 7pm, the actors, designers, stage manager, music director and myself were standing around in a circle on what remained of the stage, all of our belongings packed up and ready to go – but it seemed no one wanted to break ranks and be the first one to go.

That’s a rarity, even with the best of shows with the tightest of ensembles. We see each other a lot, after all. It was a good feeling, though a bit sad when you think about it. No one is going to miss having to get into all that make-up and those crazy get-ups, but I know they’ll miss the show. They’ll miss playing and the audiences.

When the curtain went up (ok, when the lights went up – we don’t have a curtain) on the show at 4pm, it was the most successful run of a show in terms of attendance and dollars of anything we’ve ever done 100% on our own. It knocked off The Pillowman, which was no small feat.

We’re very proud. We’re very humbled.

I was talking to a friend of mine last night after we left the theater who is not a traditional theater person but really loved the show and was telling him no matter what kind of work we do, and no matter how good it is (or we think it is) or what it takes to get a show from page to stage – if folks don’t come and see it that it means absolutely nothing.

Everything aligned on this one, and that doesn’t always happen. We really needed this.

I owe so many such huge thanks, so I’ll just simply say thank you to everyone. Artists, audiences, donors, sponsors, season ticket holders, bloggers, journalists (even the one who though it was boring), local businesses who pitched in – all of you.

I only hope to build on this success as we go through the rest of the season. We’ll be back in January with Eleemosynary. Kari Goetz, who had area audiences belly-laughing through her directing work on both The March of the Kitefliers and Phyro-Giants! will be helming a powerhouse cast of Marie Hyman, Leah LoSchiavo and Molly Jacobson. Matt Lunsford will design a set I’ll build and Karla Hartley will surely dazzle as the lighting designer.