Mona, circa 1920

     Sandy Nielson came by yesterday to drop off our ‘scripts’ for “Shoalwater Shenanigans.”  They aren’t scripts in the true sense, though, – just copies of Willard’s poems from Skulduggery.  Nyel, like each of the four men in the production, will portray five characters.   Each of the four women is assigned only three.  Thank goodness for that, my memory being what it is these days!
     In order of appearance, I will depict Alvira Stevens, Mrs. Sarah Crouch, and Ruth Muriel “Mona” Espy.  I don’t know if it will help or hinder that I know quite a bit about the first two and actually knew Mona very well, indeed.  I wonder what a professional would say about the ease or difficulty in portraying someone you have known in real life.
     Mona was my mother’s sister.  She was the only aunt I ever knew, and she was the most different of the family, at least in personality.  I think of her as an ‘old maid’ even though she was married briefly three times.  Between marriages she came home to Oysterville to live with her parents and for some periods, during my childhood and teen years, she lived with my parents and me in California.  She was loquacious, a dedicated Republican, and a bit of a hypochondriac.  She was my least favorite relative and she will be my biggest challenge.
     Sarah Crouch, the unfortunate wife of the early Oysterville preacher, will be fun for me.  I have a great deal of knowledge about her – after all, she is the ‘ghost’ in our house.  I am pleased that she is one of my assignments and I hope I can do her justice.  Nyel will be playing her husband, Josiah, which will provide an extra dimension to the role.
     Alvira Stevens is the character with whom I have the least in common.  Despite the name, she is not in any way related to Nyel, so although we share a last name, no bonding goes along with it.  She was the first woman to live in Oysterville and, by all accounts, was both domestic and nurturing – characteristics I don’t really relate to.  With her husband, she ran an early boarding house here, bore ten children, and served as midwife to the village for many years.  I hope I can figure out how to give her the warmth she must have had.
     Thankfully, we have until mid-November to wrestle with these roles.  I’m not yet at the how-did-I-get-myself-into-this stage, but I’m sure it is soon to arrive.