Finding New Methods of Expression: Step 32

My desire to be a storyteller evolved from the little liberties with facts my earliest endeavors involved to interpretation of words, movement, and gestures delineated by someone else in a document known as a script. To some extent we are all actors. A few hundred years ago a guy named Shakespeare said life is a stage. We never did Shakespeare at Samuel Morse, at least not while I was there. But, here was a chance for me to tell a story without getting in trouble. All right, so the words weren’t my own but they came out of my head and my mouth and with the emphasis my breathing instilled in them. Our drama coach, Mrs. Haggerty, had a gift for transforming gangly awkward pimple faced teens into confident compelling bright-eyed performers. Starting with tryouts where we stood in front of the rows of desks that lined her English class, she worked with students to project from the diaphragm, moderate the pace by taking purposeful pauses, speak to the back of the room so words are clear and articulate to those in seats furthest from the stage, and use gestures that extend and enrich the meaning of the spoken word. It was at these after school rehearsals where I would learn how to express myself in ways I’d never understood. Mrs. Haggerty made it clear there were no small parts only small-minded actors. She made it clear it did not matter how many lines one had, but what each actor did with them. We learned both the literal and the figurative meaning of upstage. One of the advantages of having the lead was all the attention. On the other hand the disadvantage was being unable to hang around backstage with the combined creative genius of the remaining cast and crew. Fortunately for me for the first play, Mike, who had moved to Milwaukee from Detroit was given the lead. That left me with Gary, who played my buddy Homer, helping go over the lines that transformed me into Oakley Cheever. Mostly, we found time to schmooze with Lolly, Cookie, and whatever other girls would give us their attention. Since the girls were excited about the new dances that were popular we volunteered to be their guinea pigs and they would teach us to mash potato or twist. None of the titles stick in my memory, but the first production was a comedy set in the lobby of a doctor’s office. Mike wore a pair of pajamas with feet, a zipper down the front and a buttoned trap door across his derriere. He was the first patient on the set and remained there throughout the entire one act play while the receptionist left to get the doctor, the doctor came to fetch patients, and patients came and went. Oakley and Homer came to get their adenoids out and sat on an over sized couch being obnoxious. But, before our premiere performance late in November there was an event that changed the course of history not only for Samuel Morse Junior High, but also for the United States and the world.