Text: The informant told me that there was a tradition their theatre teacher did. There was a specific rock that the teacher had that was like the class rock and on the closing show you’d have to find a place to put it on stage without people noticing it. Then it would be painted to match every show. Then after the closing show they’d go backstage, they think that it was something that people did but on that teacher’s last show the teacher did it, where’d they’d hold it up and everyone would chant “rock”. 

Context: My Informant, 21, white, is currently a college student who is from Southern California, though this story is from before college. They have done theatre for a long time and are still immersed in it. They said this tradition had gone on for a while because the drama teacher had been there a while. Informant also experienced the teachers last year there. 

Analysis: There are a lot of closing night rituals in theatre. I think it shows the limited nature of theatre, and how people deal with it. This is a ritual that marks the end of a show but the object, the symbol, also lives on beyond the show, gets used over and over, and is even called the class rock. It’s permanent among something that is impermanent thus used to say goodbye. I think that ritual of the chant is also a bit of performance used to up the energy, bond, and release some of the emotions that come with an ending. It very much showcases the community aspect and energy of theatre, and the permanent but impermanent nature of it.