“You’ll notice we have a chair set up for Cory,” gestures Maybelle Center’s Theatre Director towards an empty chair with a white cane on stage during the troupe’s summer performance. “Cory was a very active part of this theater troupe, and his passing over the summer hit staff and Members very hard.”
Cory had a professional background as a dancer and an actor before losing his sight, so he took being part of our theatre troop very seriously. Shane, our Theatre Director recounts,” Cory would often give input or whisper in my ear ideas I would never have thought of. And he also had a very quick wit. He could think on the spot, which was amazing on stage.”
After Cory’s passing, the theatre troupe came together to grieve and honor Cory by playing some theater games—because that’s what he would have wanted. They started with a one-sentence story: a game where each person adds one sentence at a time until you have created a whole story.
These often end up silly and nonsensical, but the result was amazingly poignant and beautiful on that day. It follows the story of a butterfly trapped on a bus, persevering through trials and tribulations before flying up into the sky to be free. Shane remembers, “It made us really emotional because it happened without planning.”
On August 9th, Maybelle Center’s The Fairly Odd Theatre Troupe expanded a one-sentence story into a full skit, which was presented in an intimate showcase for friends and family.
“…Our child hero brought their hands to their mouth and whispered quietly, ‘Don’t worry, little guy, go and be free.’ The child opened his hands and gave our butterfly a little boost into the open air. Our butterfly danced into the sky and flew up and up and up. Free to forever flutter into the sky.”
An excerpt from “The Butterfly,” a story inspired by a one-sentence-at-a-time story game that became a tribute to a recently departed friend and Maybelle Center Member Cory
