Sophomore and Junior Drama

I got some pretty good parts my Sophomore year.  We did She Stoops to Conquer in the Fall, and Beth had the lead (of course).  I got to play the maid.  Hey, wait a minute!  Not so great a part!  Beth took acting seriously.  I wanted to be I plays because we got to mess around and have fun between scenes.  At that stage of the drama game, I was more interested in who was also off stage at the same time. But, I got to use a fake British accent in that show. I had my friend, Christopher Robin...er,  Martin, give me some lessons.  For Evening of drama, I was in Animal Farm and my character was described as a stocky and Matronly.  That was an esteem builder!  I did get to sing, though and that was fun.  Spring play was The Miracle Worker, and Beth was...not in it!  Oh the agony for a budding actor!  I was the old maid aunt and had to wear ugly aging makeup.  More esteem building...

My sister took acting seriously.  She was an artist and being in the plays for her was honing her craft.  For me, it was a way to stay connected with my friends and stay in the public eye! Plus, the smartest, funniest, most creative people I knew were all in drama.  The little theater became  hangout spot.  I even used to sneak down during school because it had a private bathroom I could use.  The girls restroom during breaks, was no place to go if you had to pee!  All the tough girls hung out there and smoked and called "redneck" and "Dork" and worse!  

Beth made up for not getting a part by being a student director.  She actually understood her role and took it seriously.  I didn't get into the fall play my junior year, so did a stint at student directing myself.  The drama teachers must have been saints because, once again they had to put up with my cluelessness! 

The high point of junior year was a play called The Real Inspector Hound. First off, I had a wacky role and actually had a lot of fun.  Secondly, all my best friends were in it, and lastly it's went I started dating my one true high school boyfriend, Kent.  So I managed to combine three of my main reasons for being in high school to that one play! 

Another thing I liked about the Little Theater, was the dressing rooms.  There was an open make-up area and then private dressing rooms for boys and girls.  The one and only time I ever watched the show Dallas, was the "who shot JR" episode.   I don't remember what play that was, but one of the guys had a little black and white tv in the boys dressing room.  Some yelled, "It's on!" , and everyone crammed into the boys dressing room, in various stages of undress, to see who shot JR. 

Martin and I goofing around in the makeup room.  I was the maid (again!   Type casting?) and he was the debonair Inspector or something like that...

 

Stephanie and Phil (doing his Rex Reed impersonation) in costume.

 

Which brings me to my senior year. I'll save that for later