As many of you know, drama is a passion of mine. Richard and I have been actively involved in a local community theatre group for several years. The group is presently in the midst of preparing Arsenic and Old Lace for production the first weekend of February. Because we were away when auditions were held and because we were in the midst of applying for positions in Japan and didn’t know if we were going to be around for the actual performances, neither of us took onstage roles this time. I volunteered to help out behind the scenes. Little did I know that that would mean stepping into the director’s shoes when she was called away to Arkansas to be with her mother who is very ill! It’s a bit outside my comfort zone as I haven’t directed adults before but we have a great cast and it’s been going quite well except for the fact that one cast member with a lead role has been having a great deal of difficulty memorizing her lines. She suffered a stroke less than a year ago and it has impaired her memory much more than she realized. She’s been doing a wonderful job of bringing the character to life but is very distressed over the fact that she can’t remember her lines. Today I agreed to be her understudy; to memorize the lines and be ready to step into the role if she can’t do it. In spite of the fact that it’s a very large role, I’ve been at every rehearsal and have heard the lines over and over again so I don’t think they’ll be too hard to memorize but I sure hope Mary Jane is back soon and that nothing else goes wrong in the meantime!