The theater quieted down, and the spotlights shown warmly on the Cair Paravel Latin School stage. Behind the curtain, junior Noah Long took in the moment.
Here in the dark backstage of the nearly 100-year old school gym-turned-theater, Long embraced the caked-on makeup, the musty props and costumes and the mixed fumes of old paint and sawdust his absolute favorite smell in the world.
“It brings a sense of, I’m ready to be on stage and make people laugh or make people scared or whatever. I don’t know if sweat does the same thing for athletes in a locker room,” Long joked.