Today our rehearsal consisted of the scenes that the maids and I have together. They are fun and I enjoyed it immensely. We added some business that will go on between acts which is also fun. Then I got to work with the director’s precious daughter, Kate. She is five I believe, the same age I was when I did my first show. I have a picture of myself from that show that I plan to take to rehearsal Monday so I can show it to Kate. I know they say don’t work with animals and children, but I love kids and I am so excited to do this scene! Being a preschool teacher and Mom are the only things I ever did that I thought I got right, so this is a blast!
When I did “The Pablo Cruise Incident” at the Virginia Samford Theatre, the lady who was the house manager turned out to be someone I did a play with when I was 6 and she was 13. It was the “Sound of Music” and when we realized, through my dad, our connection, it was fun to reminisce. The next day she came to the show bearing pictures of that play from long ago and an old program. She said they were duplicates that her late aunt had kept so she gave them to me. It was touching for her to do that and I am so happy to have the memorabilia!
I hope seeing pictures of me at that age might help Kate get over any qualms she might have about doing this scene- I know she was a tad nervous. That is perfectly normal, after all, in the fall I will have been doing theatre off and on for fifty years! And I am still very nervous! Not so much during performance as before, like now!
I can’t believe I have done this for fifty years. While working on BFA stuff with Stephonn we talked about that today. I don’t really feel any older in my heart than these kids even though my head knows I am. I don’t feel that much older than Kate, I am probably happiest when coloring or playing with someone her age. Age is a very relative thing in my mind. I am kind of tired of acting my age! Maybe Kate will help me to “act” more like I feel and not what I actually am! Maybe that will help me bridge the gap I have created in my mind between these kids, the faculty and myself.
