Shoalwater Storytellers, 2010

Not everyone who performs gets stage fright just as not everyone who rides in an automobile gets car sick.  But those who are victims of either ailment well understand the miseries of fellow-sufferers.  I have never been car sick, but if I am anticipating being the center of attention in any capacity, stage fright is my invisible evil twin.   It is not something I’ve ever “gotten over” in all my seventy-plus years of performing, teaching, lecturing, or even doing a book talk.

For several months now, I’ve relaxed in the thought that the worst of my ‘performance nerves’ are now gone forever.  Nyel and I have turned over our “Shoalwater Storytellers” group – scripts, boxes, barrels, costume pieces and props – to Dave Immel and Kitt Fleming.  We have retired(!) and I have been almost smug in the knowledge that, after twenty-five years, we will not be performing anymore.

So, when I came fully awake this morning and realized that today Dave and Kitt make their debut, why did my palms go sweaty, my stomach queasy and my mouth dry?  I have absolutely no responsibilities for today’s performance, yet I am suffering mightily from all those familiar stage fright symptoms.  Not fair!

North Head Lighthouse

The ‘new’ Storytellers will be performing “The Lightkeeper’s Night of Peril” – a true story of an 1890s near disaster – as part of a grand celebration at the North Head Lighthouse today.  The festivities commemorate the official title transfer of the lighthouse from U.S. Coast Guard ownership to Washington State Parks with speeches and ribbon-cutting and tours from 11:00 until 3:00.  Kitt and Dave will be on site (in costume as part of the ‘local color and ambiance’) and will perform at  1:30 and again, later, ‘on demand.’  We intend to be part of the demanding crowd!!

We are also looking forward to the special exhibit that Barbara Christian has set up in the stable on the lighthouse grounds. At least part of it deals with the widow of Captain E. N. Beard whose ship, the Vandalia, went down off the mouth of the Columbia in 1853. The areas where  Beard’s body washed ashore is, of course, the familiarly named “Beard’s Hollow.”  As I understand it, Barbara’s exhibit focuses on young Mrs. Beard who became a bride, a mother, and a widow all in her seventeenth year.

Lightkeepers Houses at North Head

Barbara, like Kitt, was a member of the first Community Historian course that Jim Sayce, Cate Gable, Betsy Millard, Donella Lucero, Barbara Minard and I launched in January.  Their presentations today mark a milestone in their studies and fulfill the primary purpose of the Community Historian project – to help perpetuate the history of our community.  I feel a motherly pride toward both women and am looking forward to clapping and cheering their work.

Meanwhile, I can only hope that my pre-performance nerves, like first-hand stage fright, will disappear as soon as the first words onstage are spoken.  Break a leg, Kitt and Dave and Barbara!  It’s Show Time!!