Tonight I finally got to see Mouse/Prudence in her latest play, Beyond Therapy (scroll down for a promotional video and yes, I posted it last week too).

Many friends and a sizable contingent of relatives showed up for the last performance tonight. That was greatly appreciated and this obnoxious, baggy old stage moom got the change to answer a few questions, which I will paraphrase and answer tonight, mainly because I am too fried to write about anything else. All I did was cook and clean today and you do *not* want to read (again) about me dancing around with my Roomba.

Question: Do you ever get nervous that she’ll flub her lines? Answer: No. I do not. She is a well-trained actress who disciplines herself about learning lines and all of the other details involved in acting. I don’t think I have been nervous about this since she was about 10.

Question: How many plays has she been in? Answer: I have long lost count. She has been acting since she was eight. I had to bribe her to participate the first time. That is too long a story for tonight and one I’ve told before. She has also directed, stage-managed, and costumed various shows.

Question: Will she be in this organization’s next play? Answer: I have no idea. The process for participating in a play involves finding out about the auditions, deciding whether or not to audition (are there interesting roles/opportunities, etc.), auditioning, aaaannnnnd… getting cast in the play! I don’t know when the organization’s next play is but there’s a good chance that the auditions have already taken place, so probably the answer is no. And, by the way, Mouse is good but that doesn’t guarantee her a role in any given play. That’s the breaks.

Question: Did she get paid? Answer: No. This is community theatre. Most community theatre organizations run on a shoe-string budget. I know, I used to help manage one. Support them if you can. And are interested. I mean, maybe you’re more interested in fly-fishing or something. (“Ifya wanta find a good-lookin’ man, go find a fly-fisherman,” to quote a sister-in-law of mine.)

My favorite question, although it was really not so much a question as a thoughtful observation: But how can this talented actress be the same person as the quiet little mouse child I’ve always known? Answer(s): Describing someone’s personality takes about a billion words. Mouse can seem quiet at times but, trust me, she is not. Also, when she is on-stage as an actress, she is portraying a character, not herself. That’s why, in the best of circumstances, actors take their costumes and makeup off before they greet the public after the performance. The character belongs in the theatre, on the stage, not in the real world. This question interests me in general because I sometimes wonder what people who know me only from the Internet would think if they met me in person. I am not anywhere near as exciting as I sometimes portray myself on my blahg.

Finally, the question I wish someone *had* asked because I would’ve cracked up: Where did she get all those crazy costumes? Answer(s): The play was set in the 1980s and, for this play, the actors largely had to come up with their own costumes. I don’t have many dresses and things left from that era. What the heck, I was having babies then (er, including Mouse herself, 1987)! So, for her main wardrobe, she trawled Value World and adapted some of her own stuff. But the glittery black shawl and the sequined purses and the flashy gold belt? Those were mine!

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