7. Opening Night
Basking in the floodlight
I managed to salvage this water-damaged photo after my house fire — it’s a mess, but I rather like it. No, it was not a playbill shot.
I’m from a small town — really small.
Still, we like to be entertained. And I like being an entertainer. I spent some time in a rock band, I did theater in high school and after I graduated and got married, I was involved in an alumni theater group for a few years.
With a house full of kids and all the work and stress that goes along with being a young wife and mother, theater was my outlet. I loved going to rehersals — sometimes with a baby in tow.
Oy, the people who have seen me nurse a baby outnumber those who have seen me during costume changes. My boobs should be famous by now. Ha ha!
No, no, no, I didn’t bare my boobs; I am kidding! It was all an undercover operation!
I once performed — in a production on “Our Town”, as it happened — hugely pregnant. At intermission, an EMT who would later help save the life of the baby I was carrying at the time came backstage to remind me she was in the audience in case I went into labor.
