Coming Soon!

     The Oysterville Church has been busier than usual lately – people coming and going, sometimes in costume, sometimes carrying a musical instrument, sometimes individually and sometimes in groups.   There is no doubt that something is up.  Rehearsals for “Shoalwater Shenanigans” are underway!
      The performance, sponsored by PAPA (Peninsula Association of Performing Artists) involves ten actors, five vocalists, and two instrumentalists.  The cast is not an ensemble in the traditional sense.  Most of the actors perform individually and most of the music happens in-between times.
     Director Sandy Nielson has been working with performers individually at times and on dates that are mutually convenient.  One-on-one coaching and encouragement!  Our first full rehearsal is scheduled for next week.
     I say “our” because both Nyel and I are involved.  The show is based on Willard Espy’s book of poetry, Skulduggery on Shoalwater Bay (Whispered Up from the Graves of the Pioneers).  It is reminiscent of Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology except that the characters – some buried in the Oysterville Cemetery; some not – are from our local history.  Nyel plays five of those characters; I, only three, thank goodness!
     For me, there has never been a time when learning lines came easily.  But now, it is just plain difficult.  And weird.  The weird part is that entire words and phrases just go away – never the same ones, mind you, and I don’t even notice that they’re gone.  None of that wanting to go back and ‘fix’ what was wrong.  Obviously, my aging memory has taken a turn…  I’m hoping that all of my synapses will kick in by the time of our first performance.
     Otherwise, I’m loving it all.  I can’t think of a more enjoyable way of presenting history than through the words of my Uncle Willard and to an audience in the Oysterville Church.  It seems to me the perfect combination of history, poetry, theater, and venue!