Sleeping Beauty

This was my second kids show and first pairing with Mike Pesch. It almost didn't happen; I was originally cast as Lord Randolf. Dennis Cutshall was the prince. Then scheduling made Mr. C. decide to have us share the roles, because Dennis couldn't be there for certain practices or performances or something. Mike and I worked a lot better than he and Dennis, and the scheduling got more complex, so Dennis was relegated to the Randolf role. And then his schedule cleared up, but we were so far into production that I got to keep the prince role. Almost missed it, Mike.

We had a lot of first-timers in this production, and there were a lot of people who didn't like to do the hokey kids shows because you had to be melodramatic and cheesy. I loved 'em. As a result, there were tons of pranks pulled in every show, though none of them (thankfully) caused any real damage to the show. Some were blatant, like the condom on the chicken leg Mike had to pull out to appease the dragon, some subtle; Mike would cower at the drop of a hat, and would curl up around my feet expecting me to protect him. All the while, he'd be tickling my knee or pinching my butt. On the other hand, I was constantly trying to give him a little kick to the 'nads or a "wet willie" (finger in the ear, you pervs!).

I was paying a lot of attention to Sparrow during this show, but didn't see her as often as I had our sophomore years or over the summer. There were huge conflicts between her and Andi. I was not the only one on the cast who was surprised it didn't end up in a few catfights. I'm still not sure what was causing it, but I know there was a grudge that lasted until we graduated. Maybe it was just rivalry between two of the best girls in our department. Dunno.

The script for this was from Rheasa Smeal, a former student of Mr. C. who fancied herself a playwriter. The only thing that saved this show from the horrible script was the cast. The puns were so bad they were either missed or didn't even warrant the usual "oh that's a bad pun" groan. And the flat-out jokes were something you'd expect from a 10-year old crack smoker with a concussion.

For memories, I recall Amy Zenk refusing to do the "wake-up kiss" until the final dress rehearsal (parents' night). I know for a fact that Steve Fredericks still has his purple Lord Murray cape somewhere. I remember walking out on stage while the vines were still lowered, and ad-libbing some line. The lights went down real quick, the vines were raised, and the lights came back up. Took about 10 seconds. Then I made some remark about herbicides and went on with the script.
Most of all, though, I remember the kids going apeshit for me and Mike entering from the back of the theatre, waving our swords and acting all bad. We'd just about hack each other in half on the way to the stage, then we'd finish up down center with the kids going bonkers.