Learning how everything worked was a lot of fun, and I came in every day looking forward to every minute. Even on Saturdays, I would be waiting on the steps to help with set construction. It was fantastic.

Bob and I were a great team, but I kept screwing up. I had a club I was supposed to whack him with, but I never could remember whether to hit him on the head or in the stomach. I guess it made him improv that much better, huh? I loved playing the villain and getting the jeers. As it was pointed out to me, the audience will clap for anyone; they have to notice you to boo you.

Aside from that, I was really hot for Andi Meyer at this point. But I didn't know quite how to read her and (believe it or not) I was still quite shy. Eventually a new girl, Sparrow, moved to town and ended up working makeup for the show. She was quite the eye candy and flirted with me a lot. She was an obsession that played on my mind throughout high school and years beyond.

When the show wound down and closed, I felt a little hollow. Even though I knew what the auditions would feel like, I couldn't wait for the next production.

Perhaps my most vivid memory of this show was the weekend that John Griffith and Vikki Johnson were assigned paint-mixing duties, resulting in the fine Pepto-Bismol pink you see behind the cast. We didn't realize quite how garish it was until much later. (For Beauty and the Beast, two years later, we had three coats of black paint over that hideous salmon and it still shone through!)