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“"Some people collect souvenirs. Stuart collected stories. After reading these chapters, I can honestly say the only thing more unbelievable than the situations is that they're all true.” -Dr Poison Waters
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After enough years on the road, your moral compass starts malfunctioning. Not because you become a bad person exactly, but because touring theatre exists in this strange temporary reality where consequences rarely survive checkout time. You blow into a city for six days, drink too much, overshare with strangers, make catastrophic romantic decisions, possibly commit minor crimes against dignity, and then disappear before anyone has time to fully process what happened. By the following Tuesday, you're in another Holiday Inn two states away doing the exact same thing all over again. There are moments during tour life where you suddenly realize your existence has drifted so spectacularly far from normal society that there is absolutely no way to explain it to civilians.
After enough years on the road, your moral compass starts malfunctioning. Not because you become a bad person exactly, but because touring theatre exists in this strange temporary reality where consequences rarely survive checkout time. You blow into a city for six days, drink too much, overshare with strangers, make catastrophic romantic decisions, possibly commit minor crimes against dignity, and then disappear before anyone has time to fully process what happened. By the following Tuesday, you're in another Holiday Inn two states away doing the exact same thing all over again. There are moments during tour life where you suddenly realize your existence has drifted so spectacularly far from normal society that there is absolutely no way to explain it to civilians.
Shenston Grant, known to friends, family, and generations of theater people as Stu, has spent most of his life somewhere between the stage door and the spotlight.
Long before he began a twenty-year career working behind the scenes on major theatrical productions across the country, Shenston was a performer himself. His years onstage included musical theater, cabaret, and drag, with appearances at Portland’s legendary Darcelle XV Showplace. He was honored with the Sanford Director Entertainer of the Year Award, an honor selected unanimously by the reigning Emperor and Empress of the Imperial Sovereign Rose Court of Portland and presented at the Court’s annual coronation. He also received Best Actor in a Musical from the Columbia Theatre Arts Council for his performance as the Leading Player in Pippin.
His creative work extended far beyond performance. Shenston is a two-time recipient of the Columbia Theatre Arts Council’s award for Best Scenic Design, and in 1994 received the Crystal Scissors Award for Best Student Design from the Art Institute of Seattle. In 1991, his theatrical eye carried onto the streets of Portland when The Color of the Night, a Phantom of the Opera-inspired float created for the Portland Rose Festival’s “A Celebration of Color” year, received Judges’ Favorite honors.
Eventually, the stage door led Shenston onto the road. Over the next two decades, he built a career in theatrical hair, makeup, wardrobe, and design, working on national touring productions including The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Dreamgirls, Cinderella, Jekyll & Hyde, Footloose, My Fair Lady, Grease, State Fair, Beauty and the Beast, Little Women, and The Light in the Piazza.
Along the way, he has worked with some extraordinary performers, including Eartha Kitt, Toni Tennille, Debbie Gibson, and Kelli O’Hara, and traveled with NSYNC on their North American PopOdyssey tour.
Those years gave him something better than a résumé: stories.
Remember… I’ve Seen You Naked: A Backstage Memoir is Shenston’s irreverent, affectionate, and occasionally outrageous look at a life spent in theaters, dressing rooms, hotels, tour buses, nightclubs, and all the places performers go after the curtain comes down. It brings together every part of his life—the actor, the designer, the drag performer, the backstage professional, and the road warrior who was fortunate enough to be standing nearby when some jaw-dropping experiences happened.
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