I am in the midst of a new experience. Even though I started doing community theatre when I was only five years old, it has been a long time since I have done anything like it. The last couple of things I did before I prematurely “retired” were done in rather artsy theatres. Then when I came back to theatre more recently, it was doing more “cabaret” kinds of shows at church. Lately, all I have done has been at school which is more serious and getting the students ready for the professional theatre.
In class, jokes have been made about community theatre and how it was an excuse to get together and drink, etc. but I knew the group I was working with now would not be like that. There have been other issues- not wanting to take time off from choir rehearsal, a stomach bug that went through part of the cast and no really good place to rehearse. All of this means less rehearsal than I would have liked, but then I want to know my part as well as I know my own name, something I have been known to forget on occasion. I OVER prepare!
But this week we moved into the space we will be performing in and the band finally came on board. They are really good, really loud but good. There doesn’t seem to be any way to tone them down, no matter what we try. Tim made the casual comment to the theatre manager that they were loud and had liquid volume making them even louder. I HAD noticed a beer can on one of the music stands but being so naive sometimes, I thought it was a prop. After all, they are supposed to be a garage band and therefore are set in a “garage” where they have old skis and wagons and other paraphernalia all around them. A random beer can seemed appropriate. As the night went on I saw more cans and every so often I saw one of them drinking from said cans.
Now all of you know I am all about a lovely adult beverage. My son grew up thinking a beer was called “a lovely”! If there is no beer, I am happy with a glass of wine or a cosmopolitan or a bourbon and water or gin and tonic! I am not a prude. But there is a time and place and rehearsal or performance time is not the time or the place! Last night I did not see the band or anyone drinking during the run of the first act so I assumed someone had told them to lay off.
I am doing two very different characters in this show- one is of a very uptight, unhappy clerk in an office, (my guys call it my angry old man persona) the other is a sweet little lady who runs the local dress shop. I am one character, then I change, then I change back. For those of you in the theatre department, you will understand that I gave myself names, even though they were not in the script. I am Edna Scruggs as Clerk #1 and Millie McCormick as the dress shop owner. I have back stories for each and have worked hard on my characters; their vocal quality, their personalities. In order to go from one to the other I have things I think about.
Last night, after being sweet Millie, I changed costume to my black, boxy suit, my hair pinned in a dorky barrette, and my big square glasses. I began to work on putting on my angry old man persona when one of the band members approached me. He said, HI and I nodded, rather coldly. He asked if I could do him a favor and I looked him up and down with my “stink eye” look ( again, a name my guys have given my glare. I guess I am a mean person in real life!) I asked him why he decided to approach the one person in the cast who really might NOT do him a favor because I am mean and don’t care what he needs. He was taken aback but continued with, “You were the first female I saw and I need something from the ladies’ dressing room.” I again looked him up and down with the stink eye ( I am in character already remember) and shout, “What do you want?” He says, “The cooler of beer we left in there- we have finished our first one.”
And there you have it. I got the cooler for them because at this point I was totally out of character and needed to get him away from me so I could get back in. But even as I write this I realize how much I am learning from this whole experience. Mostly stuff that has nothing to do with acting!
