weekend fun and drama

Yesterday I did the last entertaining that I will do until Easter weekend. GASP! Did you hear me say that? My heart flutters at the thought. But it's true. I have a really good reason, but even the reason makes me gasp: I'm going to be in a play. A fact I alluded to in a previous post, casually, as if it were something that occurs on a routine basis, blasé little thespian am I.

Not! I haven't been in a play since grade school ... and I didn't have the lead role in that one. No, I was Mrs. Smith. I had one line. "Really, Jimmy!" pronounced very huffily after having sat in a chair to find little Jimmy suddenly there. Yep, I remember it vividly for a couple of reasons. One: in every rehearsal, I very casually sat in that chair without once looking back to make sure my fellow actor had gotten scooted into the chair behind me. Because, of course, I needed to be surprised. But for the play? You guessed it. Nerves. I looked. Kind of blew the surprise bit.

The other reason is that after the play, my big sister (a/k/a "Seester") helped me take my makeup off. You might have noticed from my photo that I have a rather prominent mole on my right cheek. My sister kept scrubbing and scrubbing at it, and I thought she was having trouble getting the makeup off it. Come to find out, my sister had seen that mole so much she forgot it was there, and she was trying to scrub it off! LOL!

Anyway, this play is a short one, only about twenty minutes total. But! I have a lead role. And! I have to play a man! A **British** man! So in addition to learning lots of lines, and where to move when, and what sort of reaction to have while others are talking, I have to learn a British accent, and I have to refrain from letting my hips swing or my wrists flop or my eyelashes flutter (which I evidently do more than I realized, because people keep having to remind me!) I have a feeling the audience will be expecting that part of the mystery is that my character is, in fact, a woman. But, no, it's just that we couldn't find a guy who would commit to doing the part, and I'm the tallest woman. Really. It's the only thing I've got going for me.

Can you spell S-T-R-E-T-C-H?

So, every spare minute between now and then will be spent practicing this play, which I suspect I will be calling "this wretched play" before it's all over. I'll post some pics of me in drag when I have some. Should be good for a laugh. Hopefully not a snicker. :o)

Editor's note: See the wrapup on the murder mystery.

Anyway, yesterday we had some old friends, Jim and Debbie, over for brunch after church. I didn't have time to get creative, so I served a brunch menu that I blogged before because, with some prep the day before, it is so amazingly easy to pull together the day of the brunch. We had a lovely time, sitting over coffee long after the food was all eaten, nibbling on extra fruit and scones when the spirit (I'll let you guess which one) moved us. It was great to touch bases with these guys. Way too much time had gone under the bridge or over the dam or wherever time goes when you're busy.

So, I guess the social me will have to draw nourishment from fellow cast members, or memories of yesterday's lovely brunch, to tide me over till this play thing is done. And then watch out! Much pent-up entertaining energy will be released. You might want to stay clear of the area for a while.