Steppenwolf Prom 2007
Posted by Claire Elizabeth Saxe on 6/04/2007
Saturday May 19th was the Oak Park River Forst High School prom, what would have been my senior prom, but, with a show that night I was unable to attend. I’ve never been much of a high school dance enthusiast, and while I was mildly disappointed that I would have to miss this milestone event, there was really no contest in my mind. Doing a show at Steppenwolf was definitely worth missing prom. I must admit, though, that on that evening of May 19th, as I sat in my dressing room an hour before the show, thinking of all of my friends who were, at that moment taking pictures on Emily’s front lawn, decked out in their fancy prom attire, hair done in curls I couldn’t help but feel a little bit envious.
My thoughts were interrupted suddenly by a frantic knocking on the door. In walked Gail Shapiro and Marianne Mayberry, each with a huge grin stretched across their face. “We’re kidnapping you,” Gail told me as she pulled a long red dress over my head. I laughed and looked up at her in confusion as Marianne wrapped a shimmery red and orange scarf around my neck. They each grabbed one of my hands as they led me out the door into the hall. I looked back at Carolyn, who picked up my camera off the dressing room table and, grinning, followed us out of the dressing room. The four of us giggled as we walked down the hallway towards the green room. I could see that they had turned on the Christmas lights that normally hang unlit from the pipes on the walls. As we approached the end of the hall Yasen approached us and put a plastic pink tiara on my head.
We turned the corner into the green room, which to my delight and surprise was festively decorated with orange streamers. A tiny plastic disco ball hung from a pipe in the center of the room. The rest of the cast and members of the crew were already there. Now I began to realize what was going on. I laughed and turned and hugged Gail and Marianne, as someone called out “Happy Steppenwolf Prom!”
Mark, Chris, Jason and Kirk all wore suit jackets and took turns being my dates (actually, Kirk was wearing his Nazi uniform which was really funny). They had made me a little corsage out of elastic and flowers, and prepared a colorful bouquet of daisies. A cake with “Steppenwolf Prom 2007″ scrawled onto it in colorful icing sat on the counter. Malcolm stood shining a flashlight on the disco ball to achieve the desired effect, and Mark had prepared a playlist of dance songs on his laptop. Everyone was as giddy with excitement as I was. We spent the next half hour giggling and dancing and singing along to the seventies dance tunes. I think it was the best warm up we could have possibly asked for. It made for a great show.
This is the kindest thing that anyone has ever done for me. I was amazed at the amount of preparation that went into coordinating this event and touched by how enthusiastic they all were. It was just so sweet it was of them to care about my high school dance and to go to such lengths to make it a memorable evening for me. I’m sure I will remember my Steppenwolf Prom much more fondly than I would have remembered a traditional high school prom. I was and am still overwhelmed by the incredible kindness of this group, and cannot believe how lucky I am to get to know them all and to be part of such a loving, caring community.
Thinking about how much I adore all of them also makes me sad because I know the end of this experience is steadily approaching. But I won’t think about that. Like they tell you in acting classes, “never play the ending”. Instead I will look forward to the next three weeks of shows that we have, the 24 more opportunities to tell this story, and what is certain to be a great deal more fun.