06 June 2005

No small roles

So I'm stage managing this play. And I find out, after I sign on for this job, that the SM actually is a character in the play, and spends some time hamming it up onstage.

Now, back when I was a kid, I was a big ham. I loved putting on shows in my neighborhood, and omigod did I love performing on real stages. But I kind of let that drop over the years. Prior to the (apparently brilliant -- I'll get to that later) two minutes I spend onstage in this show, the last thing I had done was Godspell, in college. Freshman year. Yeah, that's right. I was a sexy nineteen-year-old, and I sang Turn Back, O Man. And you missed it.

And the other night, after I had done my little bit of vaudeville (I even get to do a big, juicy double take to the audience... not too shabby, really) and changed back into my regularly scheduled stage manager clothes (black jeans, big sexy oversized men's black button down shirt, converse sneaks... of course...) I ran into someone in the lobby, who was bowled over by my performance.

Two minutes. One double take. A little bit of improvised dialogue with the band.

I'M A STAR!

And tonight, we had a little meeting of folks involved at the shop. Someone idly asked who in the group acted, because most of us were firmly in the behind-the-scenes camp. Several people said "Rock grrrl!"

I swiveled around, as I hadn't been paying any attention to that particular conversation thread at the time, and asked how my name had come up so emphatically.

They said, because you act.

Apparently, I act.

This is a slight shift in my personal identity, as I had convinced myself years ago that I was a lousy actor. And, mind you, nobody actually said I act well. They just thought of my name when the question arose.

Anyway.

I'll try to avoid believing my own press.

But secretly, I'll be happy to provide signed glossies on request.

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