How To Play In The New River Gorge (And By Play, I Mean Community Theatre)

As I sit here going over my lines for the play at the Historic Fayette Theatre I ask myself again and again “what was I thinking when I agreed to do this”? “How did this all begin”?

Well, several years ago I was coerced into helping out with the spring musical at the HFT, after all, my daughter Alex was in it and my wife Tammi was doing the costuming. “This would be a great way to spend time with your family” was the song that everyone involved was singing. I started out helping with the set construction then was asked to take a small part on stage. At first I declined. You see one of my biggest phobias was performing or speaking in front of people. The truth is, all my life I have had a terrible case of “stage-fright”. The requests kept coming. Then one day someone said “do it for your daughter, there is an awful lot of quality time you’re missing out on” then one more blast of the puppy dog eyes from Alex and I agreed to take the part. “But I’m not singing and I’m not dancing”! Needless to say I ended up doing both.

One of Alex’s greatest passions is the theatre. She loves to be on stage and it shows! I knew this was something she would be doing for the next several years and when I thought of all the time we could have together I couldn’t say no. Thus was the beginning of a new relationship with the theatre. Some of the shows we have done together here are Lady Pirates of Captain Bree, Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood and OZ. Alex has now gone on to college where she is majoring in musical theatre. She claims that the worst thing about being away at college is that she can’t participate in the HFT productions. Geoff and his daughter Erin even get involved from time to time. Geoff and Erin were in Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood and Erin also did a great job in last years’ show, OZ. It really is great family time.

When someone would ask why I do this my reply has always been the same, “to spend good, quality time with my daughter”.  This year Tammi and I are in the production of “Way out West in a Dress” Tammi is fervently working on the costumes and I am helping with the set build. Alex is away at college and now when I’m asked why we are doing this my daughter can no longer be used as an excuse. Tammi claims that we promised last year in a moment of weakness during the production of OZ. Personally I don’t remember. We really do have a lot of fun preparing for the show. The cast often gets reprimanded for going off task several times during a practice. One of the veteran players used to say that “if it weren’t for the spring show I doubt I’d make it through the winter”.

The HFT puts on several shows over the course of a year. We have only participated in the spring show. A staggering amount of time is required especially when you are doing double duty. Right now is the time that it seems that there is no way that the cast or production will be ready in time for the performance. Somehow it all seems to fall together just in the nick of time. Please check out the HFT website at www.historicfayettetheatre.com so you can plan on catching a show while you’re in the area.