I was so worried I'd be late. I didn't leave early enough to make the 15 minute walk to the room we were rehearsing in--The High Chaparral" room at the Spanish Fork Fairgrounds. It's an ugly room, though spacious, and filled with flies. The Fairgrounds has hundreds of stalls where horses and cows live most of the year.
I arrived on time and as soon as I walked in, Cami (director) said, "Everyone is stuck on the freeway and will be late."
Hello? I'm here.
The couple who are in this scene rehearsed their dance. He had a horrible migraine, though he didn't look too bad. His wife told us several times that he felt awful, came home early from work and took a shower, still felt yuck. I felt so guilty and I had nothing to do with his ailment! Their dance was really cute and they just look so cute together. Married people sometimes do that.
With the paltry crew we had, we blocked what we could. I am a club patron of indeterminate age. It takes place in the Highlight Club, which is a speakeasy during Prohibition, but I was told numerous times it is in the 1940s. Prohibition ended in 1933. I looked it up on Wikipedia. Everything else in the scene is 30s, so I'm just keeping the 1940s comment under my hat. Except in this blog, of course.
My entrance is from stage right and I walk in, looking animated but a little spooked, as this is a secret club. This is hard to do when I'm set to walk in with someone, but nobody was there to walk with. I felt stupid, okay? Cami said, "We need more energy." I would have been happy to just have less clunkiness. I just realized--I didn't wear my lucky high-tops! This would have solved everything! Note to self: wear lucky high tops to all rehearsals unless you have to wear your torture dance shoes.
I pound on the imaginary door and Scott, Cami's son, says: pass-woid. Then I mumble something, and he lets me in. I move to a table and pretend to talk to someone who turned out to be my friend Kendra, who also doubled as a gun-toting mobster when she wasn't sitting with me. A dance goes on while Cami's daughter sings a solo. I will drily say that this whole thing is not looking good.
All the freeway-locked people finally arrived. But it wasn't like we were rife with cast members. I sit and sit at the pretend table, and then, later, I'm run out of the club. This time I screamed my head off and ferris wheeled my arms as I ran off the stage. This didn't seem at all in character, but Cami loved it. I got a big smile out of her. Okay, that made me smile.
It could be that I act so I can feel accomplished, but this is one heck of a way to do it. I feel stupid half the time.
The migraine person said I was 'shrill'. I didn't realize for several hours what he really meant. I probably made his migraine tons worse.
Cami said the 'crowd', me and Kendra, could leave, so we walked partway to my house. We stopped off at Anna's, the woman with the World of Wonder Costume Shed and Kendra got several of her costumes. Anna got a few more things for me, but it was a little tricky. It was after dark and the mosquitoes were out and ready to suck. Ick.
Kendra was able to try on and show me her fun costumes. She made a comment about not being able to wear a certain type of clothing that she usually wears (LDS members know what I'm talking about) and Anna said, "Noooooooo, we aren't going to do that." I forgot to warn Kendra that this isn't really anything like community theater. I like both. But I know what's what. Now she does, too.
I kissed Anna goodbye, Kendra's husband picked her up, and I continued my walk home. I sang the "Highlight Club" song to my son when I got home, but I changed the lyrics. You'll have to ask Caden what the new lyrics were.
Keep playing! (Even when you feel stupid.)
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