When I moved back upstate for the summer, I had one fear. I pictured myself shut up all day in my parents’ house, listlessly petting our goats with nothing better to do. I was remembering my isolated COVID semesters and dreading any kind of return to that. In short, I was afraid I was going to get bored.

So, I started poking around for a job. I asked a bunch of people, came up empty a few times, then reached out to my old acting teacher, Andy Walter. On his tip, I finally landed a gig at the Shadowland Theater working backstage on their latest running show, Safe Home.

I know you’re wondering, so I’ll tell you first thing. Yes, I’ve met the famous people. The star of the show, Timothy Busfield, of Thirtysomething fame, is a formidable actor and the friendliest guy. He tells me filmmaking secrets at intermission, then goes back out and becomes Bert Allenberry, a time-traveler searching for his love. I even met Tom Hanks, who cowrote the play and brought it to Ellenville for its world premiere. He came to opening night and we stood totally enraptured while he spoke. Maybe it was celebrity worship, but these things just don’t happen in Ellenville. I still can’t believe I really met Forrest Gump.

My job is fully behind the scenes. As a member of the crew, I look after the props and costumes, and during the show, I mainly help move the big set pieces. There’s a wall that comes up and down, and I get to man the ropes with the assistant stage manager, Brett. It is extremely finnicky, the weights get caught and it shudders to a stop, we jerk it around until it starts moving. We all have headsets to communicate, and our stage manager, Nicole, reminds us to take it slow when the wall flies out. And in between cues, she tells us what she’s having for dinner afterwards, we laugh along to our favorite lines in the show. We are a convivial crew.

Working backstage means all black attire, long sleeves and pants so we blend in behind the curtains. This past Sunday after the matinee, I ran an errand for my father still in my theater getup and caused some intense confusion. I walked into Tractor Supply decked out in black and a pair of Ray Bans I found a few weeks ago. I went up to one of the employees and asked for a bottle of CDT vaccine for goats. His look of surprise caught me off guard until I realized he’d taken me for a city person. I’d just completely turned the tables on him. When I checked out, he told me to “use it well.”

It's great to be back in the theater. It’s such high energy work, unlike anything else I’ve ever done. Safe Home has one last weekend at the Shadowland, four more shows. It’s a strange, whimsical play, a lovely two hours of time travel that holds up even having heard it a dozen times. The seats keep selling, so I encourage you all to come and see it. Do it for the stellar performances, for Tom Hanks’ stories behind them, and on the way, you might just catch a glimpse of me, working in the black.