Cloud Nine

I’m not sure when we became the theater

Everybody loved to hate

I think, well, here’s the thing

I think people sort of forgot what we were

Or what we were supposed to be

One night, we’re all out

After a performance of Cloud Nine

This was—God, this was, uh

The 80’s, mid-80’s

And this was the beginning of the season

So it was Fall

And, you know

We’re all in a good mood

Because it’s Fall

Things are starting again

Theater, a new season

And we think, yeah, this season, we’re gonna kinda—

You know, get that mojo back

God, I hate that word, uh—

Just—never mind

God, I sound like an actor forgetting his lines

Don’t I?

Relax, I never forgot my lines

Props, yes

I never met a prop

I didn’t hate

But lines, no

Anyway, we’re all drinking one night

At this pub two doors down from the theater

And this guy walks in

Railing about how we’re all a bunch of hacks

And how all we’re doing

Is dragging that beautiful theater of ours

Into the bowels of Hell

He actually said ‘bowels of Hell’

I kid you not

Again, this was the 80’s

And we’re all sort of trying to ignore him

Because, to be honest, we were getting used

To this kind of thing

Sarah, our Artistic Director, had decided

That we couldn’t just have people coming in and out

Of the theater, into different shows

And then out again

And still call what we were an acting company

So she closed it

The company, I mean

We still took in guest actors from New York

Every now and again

But for the most part

We were a core group

And those of us that made it into the group felt great

And everybody else…

Well needless to say

Some of the people in town were

Not all that thrilled

With the theater

Being sectioned off like that

People like that screaming drunk

Telling us we were nothing but sell-outs

And cult members

And you know, as crazy as I’m making him sound

The truth is…

That could have been me

Sarah happened to like me

But, truth be told

I’m not all that great of an actor

Or at least, I wasn’t

Not when I was alive

I did okay, but…there were better

Better people who just sort of…languished

While I went up there and did these

Mediocre performances

In mediocre shows

Getting paid really well for it too

Some people thought it was the money

That people hated us

Because we were well-paid

And there’s some unwritten rule

That says the arts shouldn’t pay well

Kids today with their Occupy movements

As if hating rich people

Is a new idea

God, did I just say ‘kids today?’

I got old so fast

That’s what complacency will do to you

You become a statue

And we did

We all did

We became…relics

And so did the theater

We all used to laugh and say—

‘They’re may be telling us that we’re bad, but they sure as hell never told us we were good.’

We made jokes about it

But deep down

We knew

We knew something was hardening

Inside us, I guess?

What used to be fresh and fun

And exciting was just…

It was getting old

And we weren’t doing anything to stop it

We just closed in on ourselves

And pretty soon

Everything became…stale, you know?

Like a tomb

Not like a theater

That’s for damn sure