Anton in Show Business closes this Sunday, December 2nd, after a four-week run – and while I mean no disrespect to my colleagues, I’m really quite relieved.

In all honesty, I was never able to fully connect with this show. It might be because I sit in the audience the entire time – leaving the dressing room ten minutes before curtain and never joining the cast onstage until the curtain call. But it’s more than a psychological manifestation of a physical disconnect - after a few reads I realized that I didn’t really care for the script. During the rehearsal process there were a few lines in particular I came to regard as particularly grating. Around performance viewing #5 I wanted to throw things, and after #7 I just learned to tune the lines out. Add to that my occasional “phoning it in” (code for performing, but not really, um, present). Yes, I admit (with a wee jigger of shame) that I’ve been phoning it in.

SO – I will say this – I am thrilled that I had this experience and that it was a light return to the stage (three months hiatus is too long for me), and I am even more thrilled to get my mitts on my next projects… Anton in Show Business was my warm-up, my 5 minutes on the treadmill, my quick-stretch before hitting the weight machines. So thank you, Anton, for sparing me a pulled-performance-muscle. And thank you, Director, for not chucking me upside the head with your pencil. I know you know when I’m phoning it in, and I’m sorry.

I should also note that it was an honor working with such incredible women – the production team, the techies, the “rockstar stage hands,” but especially Mo, Muriel, Tamala, Zoe, Emma, and Bethany. And the alarming amount of baked goods in the dressing room. Note to directors – if you’re the hungry sort, cast a bushel of women; the brownies are out of control.

Anton in Show Business – closing weekend – 11/30-12/2

Friday & Saturday, 7:30 pm; Sunday, 2 pm

Mounds Theater, 1029 Hudson Road, St. Paul