SUDS IN YOUR EYE
I’m not sure what drew me to drama class in high school. I had been in orchestra in junior high so it seemed natural that I continue to play instruments in high school, but nothing prepared me for drama except for that time I was supposed to be narrator for a presentation in junior high. I came down with strep throat at the last minute and could hardly talk, but the show had to go on, so I was given a microphone. I took drama as an elective in high school. We learned all the usual techniques for being on stage, where upstage and downstage were, how to face the audience, how to give our lines feeling. When we had prepared a half hour presentation, we invited all the English classes. We gave the show every class period for the whole day. The high school campus had a large auditorium that we shared with the community. There was a large theatre that held about 1700 people and a “Little Theatre” that held about 200 or so. I got to operate the curtain in the “Little Theatre” during a presentation for the English classes. Since I was asked just that day to operate the curtain, I was uncertain on the timing and almost closed the curtain early one show while the actors were giving their last lines. As I became more skilled in giving my lines, I was given small parts in the school’s big productions. We gave 2 major productions a year. I started out with minor parts: I was an Indian in Peter Pan and part of the Greek chorus in Oedipus Rex. I couldn’t be in the musicals because they needed my playing the oboe in the orchestra at
the same time. I heard the production of “The Sound of Music” many times but never saw it because I was always in the orchestra pit and had my back against the stage. Finally in my senior year I tried out for that year’s play, “Suds in Your Eye.” It was about 3 older women who lived together in a junkyard and have a fondness for good beer (we used root beer on stage), good food, and good times. The three women pool their meager pensions, capture a crook, save their home, and promote romance. I was given the part of Miss Tinkham, the retired music teacher. Connie Frost was given the part of Mrs. Feeley, which pleased me because Connie and I had forged a friendship over the years and we worked well together on the stage. While we were learning our lines, the stage crew was busy building sets, painting scenes, and gathering props. The whole process took about 6 weeks of rehearsing every day after school. We didn’t have props during rehearsals, so we usually just pretended. One day during practice, Connie Frost, as Mrs. Feeley, was showing me a photo in her wallet of her nephew. Connie decided to bring her real wallet instead of just pretending. She opened it and there was a picture of her boyfriend. “Oh, your nephew looks very nice,” I said, trying to stifle a giggle. Finally the big day arrived. Miss B., the director, insisted that we get there early enough to get in costume and get our makeup on to be ready to start the show exactly at 8:00 p.m. All the lines were learned, everyone was in their place, every prop was ready, and the sets were beautiful. Miss B. stood in the wings with the script open in her arms.
Things went well for several pages. Connie was saying her lines and I was answering with mine without hesitation. Suddenly Connie stared at me with a look of disbelief. That look wasn’t in the script. I realized that she had 2 lines in the play which were very similar, but 3 pages apart, and I had given the response for the second line instead of the first. With a single sentence I had skipped over 3 pages of the play! I could see Miss B. in the wings frantically flipping through the pages, trying to figure out where I was. Fortunately the third woman in the play, Mrs. Rasmussen, was ready for her entrance, which came way too early. We carried on through the lines, with the other characters coming and going on stage. Connie figured out how to go back and fill in with the missing pages. When we got to the place where I had jumped, there was a line something like, “Mrs. Rasmussen, you should have seen how Miss Tinkham handled that man!” Since Mrs. Rasmussen was already on stage and had seen how I “handled that man,” Connie changed the line to “Wasn’t that amazing how Miss Tinkham handled that man!” Somehow we managed to finish the play without any more mishaps. After the plays, we always went to what was called the “green room,” where families and friends could greet us and say how wonderful we were (even if we weren’t). My parents always were there to offer their congratulations. “Did you notice that I skipped 3 pages and said the wrong line and we had to go back later and say them?” I asked them. They hadn’t noticed that anything went wrong. In fact, no one noticed that I had made a big mistake except for the cast and our poor director. We had pulled it off! Thank you, Connie, you saved me!
Pdf Entry Information Exhibitor Name: Kathy Boyd WEN: BDE8FB Division: FA - 355 - Memoir Class: 01 Personal Memoir Title: Suds in Your Eye Description:
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