I’ll admit, there were times during the rehearsal process when I felt a lot like my character, an aging general who doesn’t seem to be in synch with what’s going on around him.
It certainly wasn’t a feeling being thrust on me by the other — much younger — actors around me. But because I had been in a Merely Players production of this show before — 33 years ago — as Gen. MacKenzie says, “It just didn’t seem real anymore.”
I was 28 in 1991 when the community theater did its first production of “And Then There Were None” (at that time still called “Ten Little Indians”), and a bit more than a week before opening of this one I celebrated my 62nd birthday. Most of my castmates weren’t alive when I’d appeared in it before.
Auditioning for this show was a bit of a self-test: Could I still memorize lines, I wondered? I was hoping to be cast as MacKenzie, in part because he has relatively few lines, and in part because it’s a fun role. Plus, knowing the average age of community theater actors, I figured I would likely be among the most “qualified.”
Back in the late 1980s and 1990s, I appeared in many Merely Players Community Theatre productions. In fact, I was in the fifth show ever — 1983’s “Guys and Dolls” — where I appeared in the mission band “following the fold.”
In the 30 years following that first show, I was in 19 others, most recently 2013’s “It’s A Wonderful Life: The Live Radio Play.”
Zach Bolland, Merely Players artistic director and this play’s director, welcomed me to stage for my audition on March 11. Bolland had been a theater student at Minnesota State University when I worked there; the fact he was calling the shots was disconcerting at first, but I quickly found he was effectively putting into use what he learned at MSU.
The audition went well, I thought, and a few days later I was asked if I’d take on the role of MacKenzie. I accepted and arrived at the first read through the next Monday to find many of the people also cast I knew from murder-mystery fundraisers I sometimes participate in for Merely Players.
I quickly fell into the routine of memorizing lines. At first it seems overwhelming, but with read throughs and then the addition of blocking (movement on stage), the lines start to take hold.
Still, there are few things that put fear into a cast member’s heart, like seeing “off book” on the rehearsal schedule. That’s when you’re expected to leave your script behind and recite lines from memory. If you forget, you can call out “line” and get a prompt.
That ends a few rehearsals later when the “hard off book” takes effect and you or your castmates must work your way through line drops on your own. While our rehearsal schedule had been trimmed one week, those deadlines seemed good because you never really learn your lines until you must, I have found.
Another part of the process that I’ve really enjoyed is helping to build the set. On Saturday mornings we met on the same Lincoln Community Center stage where we rehearsed to help create the mansion on Soldier Island.
As we approached opening night, some jitters returned. I have a curious method to help me remember lines: I tuck my script into a costume pocket or into my belt, feeling I can gain help through osmosis, I guess. In addition, I have a knack for visualizing the script page and that often helps find lost lines.
The best aid, however, is trusting my helpful castmates. At intermission for a rehearsal during the last week before opening, Maggie O’Sullivan, who ably plays Vera Claythorne, offered to run my big scene with her. It’s pretty much a two-page monologue for me, with her character saying things like, “Oh” or “Really?” during pauses.
Because of that — and because MacKenzie doesn’t always speak in logical progression — I had to memorize that section without considering those interjections. Maggie will be there when written, I realized, and thinking of it as a monologue helped me find connections I’d missed before that made memorization easier.
Her offer to run those lines made me less nervous and helped me nail that section for the first time. What a confidence builder!
Theater is filled with traditions and superstitions. One of them says if you have a bad final dress rehearsal you’ll have a good opening. If that’s true, based on my last dress rehearsal, I was expecting a FANTASTIC opening!
In my second scene, I started a four-sentence section only to go completely blank. Alyssa Surrett was there. In another spot the cue line needed to be repeated before I picked it up. At the end of the show, Zach complimented me on my confession scene (my character’s big scene), so that helped me recover.
Another tradition of Merely Players is to do “Magic” before each performance. Not only does it give us a good reason to get everyone together, but it reminds us to focus our attention and strive for a good performance.
This was always a favorite part of a performance for me, and I’m happy to see it has been continued. In fact, they use the same blue Tupperware container to hold the mixture of dirt and glitter that I remember from decades ago.
Someone is selected to lead “Magic.” They share a personal sentiment before reminding us all: “The dirt is the remind us to keep our feet on the ground” (everyone stamps their feet in place), “and the glitter reminds us to keep reaching for the stars” (everyone holds high their right hand with the glitter between two fingers).
We count 1-2-3 and throw it over our left shoulders while saying, “Luck.” It’s the only time that word is used in reference to our performance. We say, “Break a leg” normally.
It certainly was a magical first weekend, and a personally successful return to the Merely Players stage for me. Most of the 21 shows I have been in were at Lincoln; having the big musicals as West High School got too expensive.
While most of the people were new, the joy and satisfaction of coming together as a cast to execute a play — especially one as notoriously “wordy” as Agatha Christie — is an experience like no other.
My thanks to everyone who welcomed me back and helped me when I struggled. You sure do put the “community” in “community theater.” I’m looking forward to our remaining performances, 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Visit merelyplayers.com for tickets.