//Ad libs: The small world of theater


Thursday, August 24, 2006

The small world of theater

A blast from my theatrical past has arrived in a yellow envelope: a program from a 1985 production of "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" at the Palo Alto Children's Theatre.

Thanks to Michael Litfin, assistant director at the theater, for reminding me of my star turn as Zada, one of a crowd of 15 citizens/vendors. (I believe I had nine lines.)

Beautiful theater, delightful people, and a way to build self-confidence and poise, as theater is for so many kids. The harem pants were fun, too.

I wore glasses at the time -- not exactly period -- so I had to go on stage in my nearsighted glory. This turned out to be a boon; if you can't see the audience, it's harder to get stage fright.

Looking at the program, I realized that one of the names in the cast was familiar. It turned out to be a woman who now works with my significant other. We had no idea we'd been in a show together.

Anyone else have good memories to share from children's theater?

posted by Rebecca at 2:21 PM

5 Comments:

  • I was excited to play the Prince in our 3rd grade production of "Cinderella." It must have been one of the first button-down shirts I'd ever worn (I think I usually wore a Transformers T-shirt). But of course a Prince must be dashingly well-dressed. I decided that Princes need capes, so I went to my Mom for help. She contributed greatly to my early theatre effort - she let me use one of her good terrycloth bath towels, and pinned it on with a safety pin.

    I think Cinderella was impressed.

    By Blogger StorySpeak, at 10:14 PM  

  • I know I would be!

    By Blogger Rebecca, at 10:58 PM  

  • My brother was in a school play, but one of the kids in the cast was really late, so they started the play without him. When the kid got there, they just stopped the show and started over from the beginning - this time with him in it! It was funny and sweet.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:47 PM  

  • My one and only star turn was as Baba Yaga, the witch from Russian folk tales, as performed by my third-grade class.

    Everyone in class got a role, but I was the title character, although playing a grizzled old witch at the age of nine was a little depressing.

    I remember borrowing some striped knee socks from a classmate and swiping my mother's wedding garter to accessorize my ensemble. The garter fell down around my ankle in the middle of the play, as I prepared to ride away on my broomstick.

    By Anonymous Andrea, at 3:35 PM  

  • Hey Rebecca, I didn't know that you and I both have PACT experience in our backgrounds-- cool! I started there when I was 8, long before Michael and Pat's reign-- played lots of peasants, villagers, a black cat-- and finally a role with lines, Humpty dumpty in Who Stole the Tarts.
    Recently I found a shoebox of memorabilia my mother had saved, and in it was a program from the Wizard of Oz I was in there, playing a dancer in the Good Witch's court-- we had the most beautiful costumes-- all pink poofy tulle. And this time I noticed that the writer of the adaptation we did was Pat Briggs! Must have been just before she was hired to come in as Exec. Dir...
    I'm sure my experiences at PACT shaped my life indelibly, and fueled my passion for theatre... what a treasure...

    By Anonymous Jeanie Forte, at 12:24 AM  

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