The "Posters have gone by the wayside" Story

It was an ordinary day. Walking past the auditorium in the high school where I taught for 32 years. The building was renovated a few years ago, but the auditorium is pretty much the same as it was in 1962 when I graduated from the same high school. Remember having my baccalaureate and graduation services in the auditorium that year. In the lobby, on the walls that comprise the rear of the auditorium, are 11"x17" black leather frames that I made for them at the gallery where I now work part-time. The frames had posters for all the plays and musicals that have been held from 1987 to 2011, while Mark W. was director. Mark teaches vocal music and took over directing the plays and musicals shortly after he arrived at the school. Most of the posters are posters that I have printed in the school print shop during the years I taught here, as well as since I have been hired to do the in-house printing after my retirement from teaching. I actually printed the posters and programs from 1967 until 2009. In 2010 I had scheduled a vacation at the same time of the school play and I told Mark I could do them earlier in the year or that he would have to find someone else to do the program and posters. Mark chose the latter. When I returned, I asked Mark how he made out and he said the cost was slightly more, but they were fine and he can have them if full color. I asked him if he would mind having the same company do the printing in the future. I was ready to give up some of the jobs that I had taken on since retirement. He understood and thanked me for the effort for all the other years. Well, as I walk past all the posters I try to remember what the play was about and the amount of trouble I may have had in printing the poster and program. The posters with more than one color always gave me trouble, since the presses kept getting older (same ones I had when I started in 1967) and keeping the colors in register (lined-up) was a challenge. But, boy did they look neat! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos from the top are: hallway in front of the auditorium at Manheim Township High School, a few colorful posters that I had done over the last couple of centuries, very first one I did for Mark W., and the final poster I printed which has a gold ink on the left along with green and black inks.