Carlee Wright
Spring in Salem carries a certain anticipation. The days grow longer. Flowers begin to bloom. The city grows green again. It feels a little like the moment just before a curtain rises.
Spring is opening night.
I went into this issue with one theme in mind. But as the stories began to take shape, something else kept stepping into the spotlight. Theater appeared again and again in busy rehearsals, on student stages, in community spaces. And it became clear that theater is one of the rhythms of spring in Salem.
Theater plays many roles in our lives. It is an escape. A reflection. A release. It asks big questions and invites big emotions. It drives creativity and celebrates community. It challenges us, surprises us, and sometimes lets us see our own stories from a different angle.
But theater is more than what happens on stage.
It is a gathering.
It invites us to sit together. To laugh together. To feel something unexpected together. For a few hours, a room full of strangers becomes a temporary community.
But that only happens when we show up.
When we support theater, we build community, one audience, one performance, one shared moment at a time. And community creates connection, sparks conversation, fuels creativity, and reminds us that shared experiences still matter.
So this spring, take your seat.
The curtain is rising.
Carlee Wright
Instigator (& Editor)
This story originally ran in Press Play Salem issue 27 (Spring 2026)
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Author: Carlee Wright
Carlee Wright is a community instigator with a grand love for Salem and notably fashionable shoes (Hello, John Fluevog!) who turns waste into wearable art in her "spare" time.
