Monday, September 12, 2011
The power of theater.....
Since I was very young, oh so many years ago, I have been fascinated by live theater. I was exposed to live performance in school, probably like most people who don't have adults to take them to the theater. Back in the dark ages we listened to the radio....our imagination fleshed out the voices we heard and created the fantastic worlds they sent us over the radio waves. TV came into our lives like a little miracle. Black and white, Milton Berle, Ed Sullivan, oh my! History in the making.
I did not see a live theater performance until my high school put on "Good News". Well, kill me now....I wanted to be part of that world. But life intervened and it was several years before I could realize my theater love. And many years after that I came to the Berkshires and found the Berkshire Theatre Festival.
Which brings me to my story today. Back in the summer of 2008 I received an email from a woman named Janine. She said that she had been reading my blog and that she had been going to the Berkshire Theatre Festival and that she would like to meet me sometime. I replied to her that I hoped we would meet and please introduce herself to me if she ever saw me in person. Soon after I attended a party hosted by the BTF Director Kate Maguire and this lovely woman did introduce herself. We have been friends ever since.
This year Janine auditioned for our community production of "The Wizard of Oz". Everyone in the audition room was so impressed with her talent on the guitar and her lovely voice. She was offered a role in the production as a 'citizen of Oz'. Since Janine has a full time job several miles away, it has been a hardship for her to attend all the rehearsals which take several weeks. After working all day, she would drive an hour to be at rehearsal and then drive back and go to work the next day. Why would anyone do that? The power of theater!
Here she is in her costume as an 'Ozian"....
Although I have been privileged to meet many famous theater performers and have a few autographs to show for it, I don't think any of them will ever mean as much to me as the autograph she gave my daughter, "Thank you for your support, Love, Janine".
And I thank you, Janine, for your support for our theater. We love you.
I did not see a live theater performance until my high school put on "Good News". Well, kill me now....I wanted to be part of that world. But life intervened and it was several years before I could realize my theater love. And many years after that I came to the Berkshires and found the Berkshire Theatre Festival.
Which brings me to my story today. Back in the summer of 2008 I received an email from a woman named Janine. She said that she had been reading my blog and that she had been going to the Berkshire Theatre Festival and that she would like to meet me sometime. I replied to her that I hoped we would meet and please introduce herself to me if she ever saw me in person. Soon after I attended a party hosted by the BTF Director Kate Maguire and this lovely woman did introduce herself. We have been friends ever since.
This year Janine auditioned for our community production of "The Wizard of Oz". Everyone in the audition room was so impressed with her talent on the guitar and her lovely voice. She was offered a role in the production as a 'citizen of Oz'. Since Janine has a full time job several miles away, it has been a hardship for her to attend all the rehearsals which take several weeks. After working all day, she would drive an hour to be at rehearsal and then drive back and go to work the next day. Why would anyone do that? The power of theater!
Here she is in her costume as an 'Ozian"....
Although I have been privileged to meet many famous theater performers and have a few autographs to show for it, I don't think any of them will ever mean as much to me as the autograph she gave my daughter, "Thank you for your support, Love, Janine".
And I thank you, Janine, for your support for our theater. We love you.
Countess Bedelia 9/12/2011 07:37:00 PM