First Acting Gig

1/21/2013

First Acting Gig

It's 1967, I'm a senior in high school and it's time for our spring play. There were 42 in my class so events such as the play required participation by most everyone.  And in a class that size you really did know EVERYBODY and you knew them well.  The play that year was "Where Were You on the Night of January 16th".  There has been a murder and the play centers around the courtroom.

I didn't have any desire to be in the lead but I did try out and got the role of a Swedish maid.  Now before you get all excited about curvy blondes, Magda Svenson (the maid) was neither curvy nor blonde.  She was in fact an old woman who wore orthopedic shoes, had gray hair and wore her glasses at the end of her nose.  She/me was a beaut!

Magda was the servant to the woman who had been murdered.  During the performance the "witnesses" sat amongst the audience and were called up one by one when it was our turn for questioning.  In each performance the jury consisted of random members of the audience who determined the closing of the play - guilty or not guilty. For one performance my Dad sat on the jury - but I can't remember if that was a guilty or not guilty night.

From my grandmother and her friends, I was able to come up with some old heavily flowered dress, purse and super nasty tie up shoes.  I even sprayed my hair gray which, at the time, I thought was fun (it's not quite so amusing now).  Magda didn't walk to the stage she stomped.  I not only learned my lines but attempted to perfect the accent.

During my time on the witness stand I had two lines that were nearly identical and during dress rehearsal I botched one of those lines.  Before opening night, I wrote down those two lines on my hands and hoped that I wouldn't sweat so much as to the make the ink run and disappear.  I'm happy to report that I got through those two lines!

While Magda was on the witness stand, she sat ramrod straight in the chair and clutched her little black purse in her hands as if at any moment a bad guy was going to walk into the courtroom and take it from her.  Magda was nervous and very agitated during her testimony and when she was done in court stomped her way back to her seat in the audience.

The best part about the play?  Rehearsals.  The gym/auditorium was filled with seniors buzzing with excitement, teachers trying to rein us all in and downing coke and pizza.  It was a fun experience and I remember it fondly.

Sadly, Magda was my first and last acting gig.  I would love to try my hand at stand-up comedy but that would require me to actually standing in front of a group of strangers and talk.  Okay so we know that's never going to happen.  I have a secret (and now it won't be) desire to be a DJ.

Nearly forgot - today is clam chowder day.  

Quote for the day: "Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to
realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." Ronald Reagan

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