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Theatre Friends
![Claire Romaine's picture Claire Romaine's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-1257.jpg)
For the most part, I would hardly call the people in my picture my friends. I knew them for one or two years at most as they passed through the theatre program at my high school, but I rarely got to know more about them than their names and vague impressions of their personalities. Still, for every back turned and face blurred in that picture, I could tell you a story about that five minutes in two years that I got the chance to talk to them. That five minutes has left a lasting impression on my memory. Moreover, I could tell you about this moment in the picture when the entire room was silent, and each of us closed our eyes while our fellow cast-members surrounded us. The exercise was simple: match the breathing of the person next to you. After it ended, I went backstage with the realization that I could trust the people around me. In an existence marked by fleeting relationships and unknown people, this was a moment when everything stood still, and I did not have a single doubt in my mind about anyone in the room.