Day 2. A star is born?

 Two days ago the skies opened up and dumped (yes dumped!) snow across the Midwest. We were not spared and the lake effect snow that followed didn't help. I am amazed that many of the drifts are over my head. Okay, I'm 5'4" so I'm no Brigid Neilsen (if you are younger than 20 - look it up), but I'm also not what I would consider vertically challenged.

My dog, Lyra, however is a corgi and only 18 inches tall. She does not let her size stop her from climbing to the top of the snow pile and walking up there, which makes it a little difficult cleaning up after her. But fear not, I do my duty as a dog owner. 

As we were out walking this morning she reminded me of a very important time in my life. I was in the 3rd grade at Lincoln Elementary School in Cudahy. The school that is there now is a replacement to the turn of the century brick building I attended. That building was awesome from a kid standpoint. 

When they were laying the brick they did so in such a decorative way that you could actually climb the outside of the kindergarten wing and get up on the roof. This was very handy when boys kicked your ball up there.

It also had a great theater with real wooden theater seats. The seats were just high enough off the floor that you could wiggle out of the seat and slide to different rows underneath them and then pop up in new locations. We would do a sort of whack-a-mole game during parent meetings. We would have school assemblies in there as well as band and holiday celebrations.

On this very special day in November of 1970, Cheryl C. and I were heading to her house to make forts out of the fresh snowfall. It was always best to walk on top of the snow and pretend that you were a mountain climber. It made no difference that people had worked for hours clearing their sidewalks - we needed to walk on top of those piles.

It was fun seeing how far you could go before your weight pulled you down into the bank. At the time I was much lighter than I am today so I went almost an entire city block before I found a weak spot.

"Are you going to try out for the play?", Cheryl asked.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe". OK I lied, the play was "The Birds Christmas Carol" and I figured I would be simply handed the lead - I mean, who better to play a character named Carol, then an honest to goodness Christmas Carole!

We went into Cheryl's bedroom and began looking over the script that Mrs. Felwock, the fourth grade teacher, had handed out. I have to state at this point that it could have been Mrs. Feelock, the third grade teacher, I always got the two of them confused for some reason.

Anyway - we began reading the story so that we could be ready. My mind began to wander and from that point forward, I was going to be the roll of Carol Bird. If you want to read the book yourself - check for it online. I see it is available on Amazon.

But to summarize the story is about a young girl, born to the Bird family on Christmas day. The entire family decides she should be named Carol. I would have to relate to the director that they spelled her name wrong, since everyone knows that a Christmas Carole should have an 'e' at the end.

The girl becomes so incredibly ill that she must be kept in her room. She has the doctor move her bed to the window so she can watch the other kids play outside. OK - this doesn't sound like a good play for a bunch of kids to put on for Christmas - but I'm guessing the two sets and tons of roles was appealing to the teacher. 

Auditions came and went. Cheryl and I did a great job, if I may say so myself. She definitely would be cast as my mother and I would, of course be the lead!

Finally, Mrs. Felwock/Feelock announced she would be posting the cast list on the school door before she left for the day. In those days, announcements were pasted to doors, not sent via a computer - we had no idea what a computer was, except that they would fill the entire room of the Starship Enterprise and had lots of flashing lights.

The night was cold as Cheryl and I ran (on the sidewalk this time, not on the snow banks) to the school to find out who our cast members would be.

We looked at the list - I was right, Cheryl was the perfect mom. And there was my name, way down the list next to the name......Susan. Susan? Really? Susan? I mean she was one of the poor kids in the play that Carol sends Christmas gifts to, right before....well that would spoil the story.

Anyway - I was devastated. I was Susan. Susan. I just couldn't get over that. Why would they cast someone else as Carol. I can't remember the name of the actress, but I do remember that she was very thin and frail. Ok, fine, she looked sick, especially next to my "Swimmer" physique. But she wasn't an actual Carole! 

Susan it was. I made my mind up to talk to Mrs. Felwock/Feelock on Monday morning. But until then I would read the script and memorize my lines. 

I turned the page, and the next, and the next - 20 pages in - finally - Susan: My New Coat is Toasty Warm!

That was it. 

O...n...e   l...i...n...e

I would be giving up the next three weeks to say one line.

Huh.

What to do? I decided I would use this as a learning experience. I mean we could easily switch roles, Carol and I.

Monday came. I spoke with Mrs. Felwock/Feelock. 

I was Susan.

I never missed a rehearsal, I memorized all of Carol's lines, just in case. You know how many television programs I had seen where the lead of a play became ill and someone had to step in? I was going to be ready.

I loved performing on that stage. The wooden planks made an awesome sound when you walked across them. They had big thick curtains - dusty curtains - but it was a smell I still remember to this day. Kids clothes and books were thrown in the first row of the theater while we rehearsed. 

When we weren't on stage we 'surfed' under the chairs and played hide and seek. Mrs. Felwock/Feelock deserved more than the bouquet of flowers some parent gave her during curtain call. She did the entire performance on her own. Props and sets were provided from different classrooms.

December 18 was opening/closing night. We performed twice. Once for the school during the day, and that night for our families. Sad to say I don't remember if my family was there, I'm guessing they were.

Looking back at that time, it was one of my best memories. Once I realized that I got to run across stage, sing, dance and not worry about memorizing a ton of lines. It was ok. I actually enjoyed being part of that cast, and it allowed me to continue to go to swim classes since I really only needed to be in three scenes. But at the time it was a good lesson.

I would go on to audition for many roles. But this was the one that started it all, my love of theater.