I won’t say I’ve gone into hiding since we closed the community presentation of Noises Off!, but . . . well, I’ve gone into hiding. No other way to put it, really.
Me, sitting at the picnic table. Can’t see me? Did you read the title of the post? (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).
I crave attention as much as most people, I suppose, but once I do get some attention, I feel the need to lay low. I am, by definition, an introvert (see Hermit at Heart).
After more than two months of rehearsal, and four days of performance, what better place to recharge, than here on the homestead, far from the attention of others?
I’m going under the radar for a while, at least locally. I don’t know when I’ll go to town again, but it’ll be a while. I haven’t spoken to anyone but family since Sunday, and it’s not clear when I might do so.
Luckily, we live in a small town. Attention gets deflected by rumor, assumption, and supposition. For example, one of my fellow cast members in the play is extremely well known in town. He’s a few years older than I am, and had a beard and a fringe of hair around his bald spot. Immediately after our last performance—in fact, between our curtain call, and the staff party an hour or so later—he shaved his head, and most of the beard. I’m convinced that within weeks, people will believe that he played both his part and mine. I, being largely unknown in Haines, will fade from people’s minds. I may yet fade once again into the obscurity to which I’ve grown accustomed.
We’re getting snow in April. For now, I’m as invisible as The Mountain With No Name (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).
Perhaps that’s not entirely realistic, but surely it won’t be long before the play fades from communal memory. Too many other topics of conversation wait to take center stage (as it were).
So, for a while, I will become the Invisible Man again. I’ll hunker down, keep myself to myself, take care of business and stay close to home (I’ve lost count—did I cram enough clichés into that sentence?). Eventually, I’ll probably want attention again, and might find some hopefully positive way to get it. I’ll come out of hiding. But not just yet . . . .
Considering that you made it into the local paper twice with your pants down – to say nothing of four performances and a full-color poster – it may take a while for the invisibility to set in. In most people’s minds you’ve probably become THE iconic image from that play.
Angie, I hope you’re wrong. My bet is that with Jono in there, and, particularly, Sarah, who I must say looked much better in her underwear than I did in mine, I’ll fade quickly by comparison! We shall see. Best pretend, for the time being, that you don’t know me, just in case . . . .