Unexpected Goodbyes and Endings are Always Tough

Even the small ones

Photo by Kyle Broad on Unsplash

I got some news a couple of days ago that took me by surprise. My acting class, which had been going for almost a year now, is no more.

It wasn’t a complete shock in some ways. Our teacher had expressed understandable frustration at fluctuating and dwindling class numbers in recent times.

We would make suggestions for how to keep it going and attract new students, and somehow we kept continuing on, rallying morale as a small group. Some weeks there would be new people, but only once in awhile would any come back.

Perhaps part of the problem was the experimental/unstructured aspect of the class, and that it was free, so people weren’t beholden by financial commitment.

There was talk of building what we were doing into shows, into more of a group/establishing a troupe of sorts I felt.

I hadn’t acted since my mid-twenties when this class came along. I had forgotten how fun letting my performer side out can be.

Even though we were practicing a very non-showy, “authentic” acting style, getting to experiment and play with various exercises felt so freeing and inspiring to me.

I feel my writing has also become more daring and risk taking during this past…