Act Naturally

About once a week, I check the Hayswood Theatre website to see if they've posted any info about upcoming shows. Now that I live in Louisville, I've pretty much told myself that very few shows will ever entice me to drive all the way back to Corydon several nights a week. It would have to pretty much be the number one show, and the number one role, on my list of "Plays I Must Do Before I Die".

And there it was, to be performed this summer - "Fiddler on the Roof".

I first saw Fiddler before I was even a teenager, on stage at some dinner theatre as part of a school trip. I don't remember how old I was, but I hadn't done much acting yet, so it had to be grade school. All I remember thinking, after seeing such a superb performance, was "someday I need to be Tevye". It's the role that I got into acting for in the first place. At the risk of mixing religions, it's my Holy Grail of roles.

Besides the long drives to and from rehearsals, there are many other obstacles I have to overcome. The obvious one is landing the role in the first place. I WILL play Tevye someday, I've no doubt - this just may not be the time. That will be hard to accept if that's the case, but I'll deal. I've still got a lot of years left in me, and I pretty much JUST became old enough (and good enough) to pull it off, so I can be patient if the need calls for it. I'd just prefer not to!

Another obstacle is that I've just agreed to create and host the Alley Theater Improv Challenge, the planned money-maker for the new theater. However, most of the time that will be put into getting it going will be in these next two months before auditions for Fiddler take place. Then after that, the show runs itself - I just need to spend an hour or so prepping and Thursday nights hosting. As long as rehearsals can work around that, I'm good.

The final obstacle is yet more time lost with RedFaery. She's been very patient with the long rehearsals and weekend-munching performances for "Blue Plate Special" and was comforted in the thought of me taking a theatre break for a while. For this I have no good answer, other than that I just need to make the most of the time we do have together. She knows my passion for this show - I can only hope that she can share that passion with me.