This week is a bittersweet one for me. It is my final show as part of the leadership team for The Community Players, my local community theatre.
 

Whenever I felt that I had no control over my life, or that too many decisions were being made for me, music was always the first thing I would give up. If I couldn’t choose when I could use it, I'd simply choose never to use it.
 

And I made that choice multiple times in life - little times here and there in grade school, high school, and then after a fight before a Christmas concert back in 2012, I decided to simply not use it anymore.
 

It’s not that I never sang; it is simply that carpool karaoke became my favourite pastime, usually when I was in the car alone. Sometimes I would “slip” and belt out the latest Broadway musical with the youth I was working with at the time, but the car became the safe place for my voice to come out.
 

If you have been reading along, you know that I left my ex back in the fall of 2021.
 

In January 2022, I became a Jr. Artistic Director at a marketing agency in Toronto. They knew me by my married name, and my team supported me as I was dealing with the divorce process while being there.
 

In April of 2023, our client signed with a different agency, and we were all let go. That is when I started my job at Stratford Festival in the box office - they knew me by my married name, knew I was divorced, and supported me as I started the process of legally changing my name. I say legally because I didn’t go back to my maiden name - I handed in my birth certificate, filled out a lot of paperwork, and took my mom’s maiden name, Davidson (Fun fact: your legal last name is whatever is on your birth certificate, NOT your government ID).
 

I remember when it changed, and when it was first printed in a Stratford Festival show program - it was Wendy and Peter Pan (Fun fact: my first tattoo was the Neverland stars, as the whole sense of never growing up means a lot to me).
 

Cue December 2023. I am driving through New Hamburg and see a giant ad saying that audition sign-up is open for the local community theatre’s production of Anne of Green Gables. For the first time in my life, I was signing up and going to be a part of something, where people only knew me to be Hannah Davidson, and knew nothing of my journey to get there.  

I could simply be Hannah Davidson, with no past - just the present. I could come as I wanted to come, and allow the person I was becoming to shine.
 

Anne of Green Gables led me to let my voice be heard again, which led to Our Town (when I took over as head of marketing), Matilda, A Christmas Carol (Mortimer) and now Into the Woods, my final TCP show for at least a time...
 

Through all those shows, I have made so many friends, learnt from professionals, and grown in both my personal and theatre life.

To step down was not an easy choice - this is what helped me get back my love for theatre, but sometimes the right decisions are the hardest to make. The last few years have been full of growth, stress, learning, and anxiety, and it’s the right time to simply take a step back.
 

While a new chapter begins, it does not mean that I am once again silencing my voice - I am just eager to  take some time to sort out who Hannah Davidson currently is, and where she is going.
 

New opportunities will come - friendships will remain - and the beauty of community theatre is that it is everywhere, and as long as you leave on good terms, you are always welcome back and supported wherever you go.
 

So here is to the last 2 years of my life - and the community who took a chance on Hannah Davidson!

I appreciate you all and cannot wait for everyone to see this spectacular show that we all created over the last several months.

This isn’t goodbye - this is just an intermission.

PS If you were curious about the list I mentioned I was making, in last week’s blog, here it is (and if you struggle, as I do, to take needed breaks I HIGHLY recommend making your own):

MUSICALS:

1. The Clockmaker’s Daughter - anything on or off stage (THIS DREAM IS COMING TRUE THIS SUMMER)

2. Wicked - anything on or off stage

3. Waitress - anything on stage (only needed cast size)

4. She Loves Me - Amalia, Ilona, stage managing or production managing

5. Beauty & the Beast - Belle, Mrs. Potts, stage managing, production managing or directing

6. RENT - Mimi, Maureen, Joanne

7. Little Women or Jo the Musical - Jo or Amy

8. The Last Five Years - Cathy

9. Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 - anything on or off stage

10. In the Light - anything on or off stage

 

PLAYS:

1. Forgiveness - anything on or off stage

2. Mrs. Warren's Profession - anything on stage or directing

3. Little Women - Jo or Amy

4. Love’s Labours Lost - anything on or off stage

 

GUIDELINES:

Must be within a 35-minute drive.

Shows can be evaluated at the end of each year.

If the show is not on the list, we must evaluate based on where life is at.

If the show is more than a 35-minute drive, we must evaluate based on where life is at.

If the character kisses another, I will check in with Aidan to ensure that we both feel comfortable in ourselves and out of respect for each other.