There have been so many shows lately that I lost track of my running memoir about how I found myself involved in local theatre. So where was I? Ah, yes...
I had landed my first role as an actor (not counting my starring turn as a blade of grass during my first grade class play, “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”). What followed was a couple of months of rehearsal and lots of fun.
There’s a special camaraderie that brings most acting troupes together - you become a team, fighting to get through the impossible job of learning all the lines, memorizing the songs, figuring out the dance steps and the stage movements, all while pretending to be a different character - and sometimes more than one character. The group of guys (and two women) who made up the cast a “1776” really bonded - we laughed, told stories and just in general had a heck of a good time.
That was largely possible because we had a great cast - too many to name here, but I have to mention Clint McElroy, in one of his best performances ever as John Adams, and Danny Ray, who played Ben Franklin perfectly. There were so many others - I could fill volumes just talking about how wonderful they all were, each perfectly cast in their part.
Of course, no show would succeed without great leadership, and director Gene Anthony did a herculean job pulling the cast together and turning it into a wonderful show. I don’t want to embarrass him by gushing too much, but he and the rest of his directing team did an amazing job bringing all the disparate elements together and crafted a terrific show. He made every rehearsal a joy.
In fact, I was worried that the weakest element in the show was going to be - well, me. Thankfully, they had me covered - I was given a part that called for a timid man who didn’t demand the limelight - that was me all over! I only had about a half a dozen lines, and any fears that I wouldn’t be able to remember them quickly vanished - after two months of rehearsals, they were locked into my head, and since my entrance didn’t happen until about 45 minutes into the show, I had plenty of time to review them while everyone else was out there working.
I only had one moment of uncertainty. During the final week of rehearsal, I was pulled aside by someone not directly involved with “1776” - an actor who wanted to give me some advice. It seems I wasn’t talking with a New Jersey accent (my character was the delegate from that state). I smiled and said, “Let me explain. I don’t do accents because I can’t do accents. Second of all, my character was actually Scottish, and another character in the show was already using a Scottish accent to great comic effect, and he probably wouldn’t appreciate me stealing his bit.” (That part was played by my pal Jim Lamp, who was terrific, especially in his on-stage arguments with fellow real-life attorney Mark Hayes.)
When the shows arrived, everything went like clockwork - the costume makers had provided me with an awesome black suit, and the makeup crew applied the necessary coverage to my mug (I must admit that I hated that part. It wasn’t their fault - I just hated having makeup on. I was probably just thinking, “What would Dad say if he saw me now?”).
I did my part, the shows went well, my fellow actors were incredible, I survived, got rid of most of my stage fright in the process, made new friends and had a great time.
It was time for the next challenge: directing.
Next: A Christmas Story
No comments:
Post a Comment