Sparking Memories

Last night, I took my kids to see a show in a theater I hadn't been in for a very long time. As we sat there, the memories came back. It was such a neat parenting moment.

When I was about the age of my youngest child, my mom took me to see a ballet production of Cinderella there. I don't remember much other than pretty costumes and dancers holding numbers forming the clock, but that's enough for me.

Then, the summer before my seventh grade year, I auditioned to be in a production of The Wizard of Oz put on by the Missoula Children's Theatre. It was like a day camp where we rehearsed for a full week, then put on the show. I wasn't cast. Devastating! My younger brother got to play a winged monkey. (They called them Winkies...Oz fans will know how wrong that was!) Somehow, I was given the opportunity to work backstage. My assignment was pulling the curtain. This began my love affair with stage crew work!

In high school, we had to participate in a mentorship program. I connected with some people at the performing arts center and became a sort of intern with the lighting crew. I went up in a cherry picker (wouldn't do that today...too afraid of heights!) and helped focus lights. I learned all about fresnels, lekos, and parcans (this was WAY before Intellibeams and other technology came into play). It was a fun way to learn.

And finally, I was cast in a show there. Just after I graduated high school, I played Lucinda (one of Cinderella's wicked stepsisters) in Into the Woods. I even was paid for my performance. My first professional acting gig! It was fabulous!

I'm sure I've been in that theater since then, but I don't remember. It was so neat to go back last night and enjoy a show there with my children. And to whisper the stories...the memories. And as I pass on the torch--my love of theatre--to them, I can envision a future when they will do the same with their children. The circle of life. It moves us all.

Collage of Into the Woods pics