In 2004
And it was the first time she’d been back there
Since they forced her
Into early retirement
I never got the full story
Because by the time my grandmother
Was ready to go back to the Orpheus
It was only because
She wasn’t entirely in her right mind
As best I can understand
She was dismissed
During the crazy Enrico year
When people who’d been with the company for years
Were just tossed out
Like garbage
Even though everybody agreed
That Enrico was nuts
Nobody hired back any of those actors
The Orpheus is like the Chocolate Factory
Nobody ever goes in
And nobody ever goes out
So once you’re out
You stay out
Then I get free tickets to The Matchmaker
And I asked her, on a whim
If she’d like to go
To my surprise, she said ‘Sure’
And then ‘Might as well see it one more time’
The unsaid part of that was—
‘—Before I die’
When we got to the theater
My grandmother kept looking around
In this way that…
Well, it was how someone might look
At their childhood home
She walked by all the pictures of past productions
Listing off facts about them
Stories
Memories
Then we got to the picture of Beau
The Founder of the theater
And she stopped
Just stopped
She walked up to the photo
Smiled and said—
‘Hello old friend’
It was really something
Then she turned to me and said—
‘Let’s go’
I said—‘Gram, we still have to see the show’
She sighed and said—
‘Well, all right, but it’s going to take away from the
moment I just had’
She’d have those occasionally
Those sharp moments
Even after all those years
And her mind
Slowly coming away from itself
She was still the classiest woman
You’ve ever met
And always
Always
An actress
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