It’s been almost two weeks since I last published a blog post, but what a busy and fun two weeks it has been! After a hiatus of several years, I returned to the stage last year for our community theatre group’s very first musical. That’s all it took for me to realize how much I still loved performing, so when auditions for this year’s production were announced, I read the script and decided to try out.

Gramercy Ghost, a comedy by John Cecil Holm, was originally published in 1951. It’s the story of a young woman, Nancy Willard, who inherits the ghost of Nathanial Coombes, a young and handsome Revolutionary soldier who was ambushed and killed in 1776 and is now doomed to an earth-bound existence because he failed at his mission to deliver a vital message. Much hilarity arises when Nancy is the only person who can see and communicate with him. Adding to the fun for me was the fact that both Nancy and Nathaniel were played by former students of mine!

I specifically asked for a small part in this year’s play as I’m not sure that I could memorize the vast number of lines that I was once able to. I was absolutely delighted to be given the role of Augusta Ames, a somewhat ditzy lawyer who appears in just one scene early in the show. Our local newspaper, in their very positive review, described my role this way… “Elaine DeBock is hilarious as the solicitor; it’s not a big part, but she makes the most of it.”

This was not the first time I played the part of a lady lawyer. You can read about the last time in this post. It was also during that show that I first tried my hand at prompting and discovered that I really enjoyed it, so as soon as I came offstage this time, I took over that role for the remainder of each performance.

Over the past two weekends, we entertained three dinner theatre audiences followed by a matinee showing yesterday afternoon. Coming to the end of a production is always bittersweet. This afternoon we got together one last time to tear down the set, pack away our costumes and props, and clean the community hall.

One of the aspects of theatre that I have always loved is the costuming, especially when we’re doing a period play. As soon as I was assigned my part, I started researching 1950s fashions and hairstyles. Although our group has a large collection of costume pieces, I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted there, but a couple of visits to our local second-hand store were all I needed to put together my costume.

I also started growing out my hair so that I could attempt to replicate a 1950s hairdo. Using this photo of actress, Dianne Foster, as my inspiration, I practiced until I was able to manage a fairly good imitation.

Here I am after our last performance.

Now that the play is over, I have an appointment for a much needed haircut later this week!

A love of acting seems to run in our family. All three of our kids thoroughly enjoyed being part of the high school drama club when they were growing up and this Thursday, we’ll be in the audience watching one of our teenage granddaughters onstage!