Theater is thrilling to watch as well as to be a part of. Being involved in theater comes with many rewards, but is also hard work. The hard work and rewards are combined to make a show that the actors can be proud of as well as making it enjoyable for the audience. The aspiration of the actors and the whole production is to help the audience get lost in the show themselves for the few hours they are there. I love theater because you can become someone you are not and forget your own life for a while, which can be a challenge as well as fun and you meet a lot of new and interesting people that might even become lifelong friends.
I have been doing Community Theater for about ten years now, starting mostly with my church theater group at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Wickliffe, Ohio. We are a catholic church that was started around 1920 and has been growing ever since. This year The “Mt. Carmel Players” will be doing their 39th production. Our church group always does musicals so dancing and singings as well as dialogue are involved. We do not always do religious plays but we try to do wholesome plays. Our mission statement entails creating a production that is family friendly as well as getting as many families and people involved. The Mt. Carmel Players, over the years, have created a family that produces a great show to involve all aspects of people in the parish. We need actors, as well as back stage, set builders, programs, tickets, and many other things. It takes a lot of behind the scenes, as well to produce a production of this size. These also include our audience that comes faithfully every year to see us perform.
I am in rehearsal right now for our yearly church production. We are performing “Titanic, the musical” and I am Eleanor Weidner, a 1st class passenger whose husband is the richest man in Philadelphia. I really enjoy playing a character that is very different from me in a different time of life that I have only been able to read about. You imagine how they might have lived and what things they might have done. I do research on line of the time era and in this show the actual people; because these characters are real people that road aboard the Titanic.
On April 10th 1912 Eleanor boarded the Titanic with her husband, George and her son, Harry, who is not mentioned in the show. The couple was aboard the boat with their friends, Marion and John Thayer and their son, Jack. Eleanor was a very wealthy person who dressed in all the highest fashions of the 1912 era. She wore the large Edwardian hairstyle along with the big hats and all the ladies always wore gloves. The Weidner’s gave a dinner party for their friends and the captain, the last night before the ship sank.
It is enjoyable to do different kinds of plays such as musicals or straight plays (without music). It is also challenging to do different kinds of show from dramas such as Titanic, which is very thrilling and hits the heart as well as doing things that are funny. I have been in both kind of shows, and I think I really like to be in the funny kind of shows the best. It is not only exuberant to be someone that is funny, but it brings me joy when the audience laughs at what you’ve done. Yes, they are laughing at you, but also laughing with you. It is fun to make people laugh as well as making me happy to make them laugh.
A challenging thing can be in a show like “Titanic”, when the drama is so great. You really have to get into your character and actually become that person. You have to imagine you as that person before you go on stage. At the beginning scene of Titanic, when boarding the boat, you have to show the people in the audience how excited you are to board, and how excited you are to be traveling the largest ship every made. People sing and speak, but you really have to show through your acting that you are excited. Another scene in Titanic that is challenging is, when the people are boarding the lifeboats. This requires really reaching down and finding your sorrow. You have to become the character here also because you need to show the emotion of being ripped away from your loved ones to get on the lifeboat, knowing you may never see them again. I would try to do this by thinking about the actuality of this happening to myself. Before I go on, I imagine the reality of it and this helps me to make the scene more believable to myself and the audience. Sometimes, if I work hard enough at the imagination of this as a reality it can bring tears to my eyes.
I have done straight shows such as, “Odd Couple, the female version”. This show is a female take off on the original Odd Couple play and TV show. I played a character that was a friend of the lead role character. This character was a silly kind of airhead person. I did research on this person also. This character was not real, but the director used Betty White from the Golden Girls as an example of how the character should be played. I researched the character of Betty White by watching clips on line of the show the Golden Girls with scenes that she was in. This helped me to know and become that character and develop her to a tee. These things are challenging because you have to not only research the character but you have to reach down inside yourself to actually become that character when you are on stage. If this character is not something that you can find in your own life to relate to, or even hypothetically relate to, then you have to use your imagination. The bigger challenge is you must be that character every night of the show, no matter what is happening in your life. If you just had a fight with your husband or your best friend, and you are not feeling very funny ,and this is opening night of the show, you have to reach even further down inside to become that character.
One of the best things about theater is meeting people. You meet all kinds of people from all walks of life and all ages. These people also come from different areas as well as your own neighborhood. They are all different but then again the same. They all love theater and this is a bond.
I have met many people doing shows. Of course I have met people from my parish and a lot I have already know, but doing theater has brought me closer to them in a whole new way. I have a few people that I knew from church, and now, from being involved in theater we get together outside of the shows. In all of the shows we always get together after each show and go out or have a party at someone’s house. They have become more than an acquaintance, they have become my friend.
I have done shows in other towns in different areas of Cleveland, East and West side, and sometimes people from my parish will be there, and sometimes I meet someone new. After doing a show with someone they can become your friend, especially from working so closely with them in characterization. I did the show ,“Odd Couple Female Version”, in Broadview Heights a few years ago and then this past November did the show,“ My Three Angels”, in Independence and ran into a few of the same people. I believe because of the common interest it makes it easy to become friends. Sometimes you make lifelong friends, sometimes you don’t but it seems that you will always run into someone again, and they will remember you. By doing this you make a network. We also will try to support each other in future endeavors of the theater.
There are different tools we use to keep in contact and to keep all informed. There is a free web site we sign up for called “NEOPAL”, Northeastern Ohio Professional Actors League. Things are posted there from auditions to actual performances. Quite a few of us are on “Face book” also and we keep each other informed of what we are doing and try to come and support each other in new endeavors.
Theater is timeless and ageless. Theater knows no bounds. Theater is for everyone. Everyone likes to come out to see a show with their friends or to see their friends in a show. Anyone can become interested in theater no matter how old or young they are. There are many shows for all ages. Theater ranges from happy, sad, musical or not; there is something for everyone.
Ben Kingsley, an English actor states, “You can throw away the privilege of acting, but that would be such a shame. The tribe has elected you to tell its story. You are the shaman/healer, that’s what the storyteller is, and I think it’s important for actors to appreciate that. Too often actors think it’s all about them, when in reality it’s all about the audience being able to recognize themselves in you. The more you pull away from the public, the less power you have on screen.”
Living life and telling the story is what theater is all about.
