That’s a wrap for 2025, looking forward to 2026

There was a different feeling watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas Live on Stage” this year.

For one thing, I knew the cast more from working with them this past summer in “Guys and Dolls.” I also worked with one who served as an assistant director in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” So when the show ended it was a different feeling congratulating them on a well-done show directed by Glenda Berry. 

Before this year, I had never performed on the big stage at Theatre Dublin. I had interviewed actors and taken plenty of pictures from on the stage to preview upcoming shows. I had always wondered what it would be like to perform on stage and in 2025, I got that chance starring as a gambler in “Guys and Dolls” and then as a preacher in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”

“Guys and Dolls” was a great show for my wife, Jill and I to make our debuts. I had previously interviewed many in the cast for other Dublin Community Theatre productions. 

As we spent more time together working on the songs, movements and placing props on the stage, we became a family as we took direction from Berry and Christopher Pittman.

When the show wrapped, we had to help take the backdrops down and pack them up. We all had to turn in our costumes so that they could be sent back to Chicago. I was sad to have to pack up my yellow suit. But it had to be returned along with the nice black and yellow hat with a yellow feather.

Doing one show this year was nice. Being asked to return for a small part in a Christmas classic like “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” was an early Christmas present I didn’t know I needed. 

For my wife and I, this gave us more experience working backstage and a chance to expand our Dublin Community Theatre family members. Working with not only a way younger cast, but other friends and fellow cast members from our previous show was awesome. 

It was fun to watch director Misty Mullis as she and her daughter Lorelei, led this play within a play production. It was also a blast to say, “6,7” and watch the young people go crazy. 

But just like the first production, we also became like a little family. Both casts not only cheered each other but encouraged each other during practices and the shows.

That cheering did not end when the curtain came down. It is like a reunion when we see each other around town, or, when we go to other performances like “Over the River and Through the Woods” or “The Nutcracker” and cheer and congratulate our DCT family cast mates. 

As I sat down in my seat at Theatre Dublin a few weeks ago to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas Live on Stage,”  I came to the realization that I have gotten used to not sitting in the audience to watch a live production. I realize that I do not mind being on the other side of the curtain working backstage where the real action is not seen by the audience but is important to have a successful show.

Being in these Dublin Community Theatre productions is as close to my days in marching band that I have ever had. Working with others to put on a performance for the community is enjoyable. I am grateful for Berry and Mullis for giving my wife and I the chance to be a part of the productions they directed this year. Hopefully we will get the chance to work together with not only these directors but our former cast mates as well. 

Soon we will be in 2026, and as they say at the theatre, 2025 is a wrap. 

Have a Happy New Year, and by the way, in 12 months we will be going from 2026 to 2027 – at least it isn’t 6,7.