The new play--a surprise blessing!

I went to an audition for a reader's theater production of A Christmas Carol on Thursday. As usual, fewer men than women. Some friends were there, who I was happy to see except as an actress. This was a theater I wanted to work for before but scheduling conflicts prevented me from auditioning for their debut production.
Theater: Springville's Little Brown Theater--very cozy (read--small) black box theater. I LOVE IT.
So, the audition--lots of talent in the females. The men--the young man I'd seen in The Importance of Being Earnest and he was good. The other man showed up in a puffy black wig that had a long braid down the back. Reminded me of when I used to be in Indian Maidens and we all wore black yarn wigs. He had a cowboy hat on this wig and those aviator type sunglasses. I thought he looked like a rather lame terrorist. When he read, he talked like a cowboy. Instead of a clipped British accent, as he read the lines he said things like, "We are goin' to the circus." I don't say this to be mean. I say this for what happened next.
I went home and told my husband, a high school English teacher, that it would be great if he read. The show needs help. My husband, needless to say, has never heretofore expressed any desire to perform. But this is Dickens we're talking about, and he's been reading in front of a bunch of teenagers for 33 years. What does he have to be afraid of? If he can face that every school day, a reader's theater is nuthin'.
Long story short--he came, he read, he got cast! I am as stunned as you are. He is playing Mr. Fezziwig to my Mrs. Fezziwig (we kiss! how cute is that?) and another smaller male part. I also play Mrs. Cratchit. We are already thinking of character development. What kind of hairstyles did they wear in the Victorian Era? Will Craig need to trim or shave off his beard? How will I do my hair?
THIS. IS. AMAZING. I have been dancing sillily all weekend.
Our son, an amazing actor, was not cast--too young to be Young Scrooge and too old to be a Cratchit kid. Caden will sing in the choir, do tech (which he yearns to do), and perhaps play the guitar and the French horn. I admire him that he is completely okay without having a speaking part. He said, grinning, "I don't always have to have the lead."
THIS. IS. AMAZING.
Merry Christmas to us!
I have reserved everything I can get my hands on that deals with A Christmas Carol--the library's copy of the novel, the novel on CD to download, several versions of it on film.
The heck with Thanksgiving. 
God bless us, everyone!
Keep playing! (And keep the faith that miracles like this with me will happen to you!)

Character Development--1

I remember the first time I really realized that it took time to really develop your character for a performance. I was the lead in a Tennessee William's one-act called "Twenty-Seven Wagons Full of Cotton." I played Flora. Here's Wikipedia's summary about the show: 

27 Wagons Full of Cotton

27 Wagons Full of Cotton is a 1946 one-act that Williams referred to as "a Mississippi Delta comedy." In it, Jake, a middle-aged, shady cotton gin owner burns down the mill of Silva Vicarro, a rival in the cotton business. His rival, who knows what happened but cannot prove it, seeks revenge by seducing Jake's young, frail, delicate wife, Flora. Elia Kazan's controversial 1956 movie Baby Doll was based on this play. Incidentally, the play's title is written as a line of trochaic pentameter (e.g. TWENty SEVen WAGons FULL of COTTon).

I loved playing Flora, after I spent hours talking to the guys who played Jake and Silva, trying to figure out how this all could work onstage.  BRAGGING MOMENT: When I auditioned for the part, which was kind of a cattle call for all the student directors for their final project, my director told me she was so happy to have gotten me. All the directors wanted me. (Blushing but not really...)

I admit, I spent so much time on talking to the director and the other two actors in the play that I didn't learn my lines well enough and had one horrible moment in one of the performances where I couldn't get out. It was during the fight/seduction scene and back and forth Silva and I went until I could remember the line that would pull us back on track. Ugh. I remember the total panic about that, right there onstage, being hauled back and forth. Yipes times infinity. (You'd think I'd be better about learning my lines after that, wouldn't you? <sigh>)

The last scene of that play I come out with black and blue marks that I frantically put on backstage to look like the bruises Silva gave me. If you want to do this, just to tell you, it's blue and purple eyeshadow covered with blush. It looks very cool from the audience, or so I was told.

There are whole courses on character development, books about it, and tons of info about it on the net. Essentially, it is essential. Nice redundancy on my part, yeah? I will speak on this further, but for now, I want to say that I appreciate the directors and fellow actors I've worked with who've encouraged me to look into myself and find the character I'm playing. By doing this, when I'm onstage, I don't just stand there like a lump. I respond with actions, facial expressions, even with a spiritual connection, it seems to me, with the others onstage with me.

Keep playing! Play your part until it is you.