Remains of the Show [A work of fiction to honor Greg Rawls' birthday.]

Greg Rawls with father Lucian and Audrey II. Photo by Janice Moir Fulp.

The mood in the theatre’s scenic storage room was somber, funereal. The director and set designer grimly began dismantling Audrey II.

“It’s a shame.”

“Worse. A loss of revenue.”

But, with no room, they couldn’t preserve it for future rentals.

“Perhaps the infrastructure will reappear as Alice’s rabbit hole or in a furniture costume for Beauty.”

“We’ll always have the photos and the memories.”

Slowly, the creation, reduced to its parts, was more discarded than kept. As they started to leave, the designer asked, “Did you hear something?”

“No.”

The door closed.

In the darkness, a voice said, “Feed me.”

[Please note this original 100-word story, or Drabble, is a work of fiction, written as a tribute to wish my friend Greg Rawls a very Happy Birthday and to honor his set designs for the USCB Center for the Arts, particularly his creation of Audrey II that is still intact!]

Greg, Audrey II, and Oliver

Greg Rawls and I met in a high school production of Bye Bye Birdie.

Since then, we’ve enjoyed watching and participating in theatre (including the set he made for my first directorial effort, Oliver!)

Now, in retirement, he’s working with the University of South Carolina Beaufort Center for the Performing Arts and created Audrey II for its Little Shop of Horrors.

He’s also an accomplished glass artist having won the 2012 Cooper River Bridge Run poster competition for a poster made almost entirely out of glass.

In his spare time, he’s a paddler for DragonBoat Beaufort and Oliver’s doting “dad.”

Greg Rawls' Quilt of Humanity

Greg Rawls and I have been friends since high school, where we spent our time working on theater productions and planning to live lives dedicated to the arts. Of course, life doesn’t always take the most direct course plotted. I went to law school and Greg had an exceptional career in public health. In addition, he developed his skills as an extraordinary artist in stained glass. This fall, he travels to ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his entry, Quilt of Humanity, chronicling in thirty six panels the events that drastically changed Humanity’s course. Check out his work at:

http://www.gregorieglass.com/QOH.html