Infected by the acting bug

I managed to skip over a minor event in this blog that took place in the sixth grade. It actually had a major impact on my life. I got to take part in a school musical production. However, since I did it again in the seventh grade, I'll just let it count for this year as well.

In the sixth grade, the choir teacher (the one from the fire drill story) announced that since it was the Bicentennial (this was 1976), we were going to do a musical about the Boston Tea Party called "The Party that Shook the World" or something like that.

I had mentioned earlier how I got mad at seeing other kids my age on TV and wondered why I wasn't on TV. However, I was aware I was plain scared of getting up in front of an audience. The teacher said that she needed volunteers for the backstage crew. I volunteered. A few days later, she cast the show with two (almost) separate casts and needed to fill a few spots. There were some bit parts with one or two lines and she asked me to be one of them. It was like "Second Patriot." I thought I could handle this.

Then about a week later, the student she had cast as the lead character's son was unable to take part and she asked me to do the part. It was considerably larger, but I decided I thought I could handle it. However, I about freaked when the script called for me to sing a solo number. But then I got ticked off because the teacher turned it into an ensemble piece. I was actually was looking forward to doing that solo.

We performed the show for a few classes at the school in the cafeteria. While there were times that the other cast performed for the classes, our cast was the one selected to perform the production before a local civic group. The fun part was the actual Tea Party scene. We had a limited number of boxes that we could work with, so instead of bursting open the boxes and throwing them overboard like it was really done, we sort of played volleyball with them. When I was sitting in the audience watching the other cast, it only looked like they were throwing the boxes back and forth.

The next year, the teacher decided to do a musical called "The Saga of Dead Dog Gulch." It took place in the old west and was about a small town that was being taken over and re-designed by the women. They get scared at the end after they see a bunch of guys in their underwear. I got chosen for the largest role, which was the narrator. But I didn't really get to do much except recite my lines and sit on the stage most of the time watching everyone else do stuff. But it's not like the play had guys kissing girls or anything, so I wasn't really missing out on much. I still did not get to sing a solo. Dang it! I had a great voice, too.

However, this was a major production compared to what we had done the year before. We got to perform at the high school auditorium and had the setting painted on this huge backdrop. We felt like we had made the big time. However, it meant we had to yell all our lines in order to be heard. The choir teacher didn't know how to teach us to properly project.

So this is how I got started being interested in live theatre. I would do more once I got to high school and I eventually took Theatre as my second major when I was in college. However, I have never been able to make any kind of real living at it. I'll be tell you more about my exploits in theatre in upcoming blog posts.

Interestingly enough, when Loyd was in the seventh grade in 1980, his choir teacher (a different teacher) also decided to do "Dead Dog Gulch" and he wound up playing the same part I did. (The funny thing is that his class used the same backdrop we did because no one painted over it.) He did not get as bitten by the acting bug as I did, but that's because the high school completely did away with the drama department by the time he got there.