Theatre Cedar Rapids provides great escape

By Kate Ford

Casey, Leslie and the cast ...

It's hard for me to find the words to say thank you to Theatre Cedar Rapids and to tell you how last night (March 4) was just what I needed.

My husband and I had tickets to the 7:30 show of “The Producers.” Two hours before arriving, my husband informed me that his deployment date has been moved up - he and his National Guard unit will be deployed to Iraq in November of this year instead of spring of 2011.

Having been married for seven years with three children all under the age of 5, you can imagine it was a lot to swallow.

To be honest, going to the theater was the last thing I wanted to do. We had so much to talk about, and I was feeling so many emotions. From the moment he spoke the words, “I'm being deployed early,” my thoughts were consumed.

I was not in the best mood, but we went. As we sat in our seats waiting for the curtain to rise, I began flipping through the program.

And as I began to read the first page and the words written by theater Director Casey Prince and Producer Director Leslie Charipar, I was suddenly calm.

“These past few years have been rough on our city. But we couldn't think of a better time where theater was more important, to escape the troubles of the moment, to celebrate our resilience.”

Those few words spoke to my heart. I allowed myself to be in the moment. To stop my thoughts, my worries. To stop thinking about what is to come and just be in the moment. I allowed my thoughts to not be consumed with thoughts of deployment but instead with the hilarious cast of “The Producers.”

Thank you, Theatre Cedar Rapids, for making me laugh out loud, for taking my mind, and I'm sure the minds of others, off our troubles. And for showing that despite circumstances out of our control in more ways than one, the show must go on.

This is why you do what you do. This is why your theater is such a gift to the community, and this is why I will continue to come back and why I encourage others to do the same.

You all have been blessed with an amazing gift.

Theatre Cedar Rapids, through its amazing talent, provided an escape if only for three hours. It was priceless!

Kate Ford of Cedar Rapids is a wife, mother and artist.