M.I.A

Sunday-

Not called at all during the day--we'd gotten just past my "strawberry scene" late Saturday, and Sunday they worked thru the rest of the show. I was called at 7:30--the call sheet said we'd start with act 3 scene 5 (the scene just after my last scene in the show) and I wasn't exactly sure what I'd be doing, but came anyway just so everyone would remember who I was...............I had to remind Andrew Hurteau--again. "It's JIM, Andrew. Remember? JIM!"

Waited till our dear stage manager Les Reinheart (hope I spelled that right, Les--if not you should run me through the Equity spanking machine. Please Les?) was taking a breath and walked up and asked what I'd be doing tonight. She thought a moment. A blank look passed across her face, then her brow furrowed, then morphed into a look of distress.......I thought for a second she was going to cry, so I just grabbed her and gave her a big squeeze. Les is really tired. She's a wonderful stage manager and on top of just about everything, but every once in a while something slips through the cracks. She apologized, I told her I needed to get out of the house anyway and went into the mens dressing room to get my bag just as everyone was getting into their costumes........

"Where you goin' Jim?" this in a rather dangerous tone by Mr. Hurteau
"Uhhhhh......I'm.....ah..... I'm, I'm not called; heh, heh! Guess Les made a bit of a mistake!"

Suddenly the room got quiet. Dan Hiatt paused with his pants at half mast. I realized I was in the far corner of a men's dressing room filled with hostile actors and the exit was a full rooms length away. This called for desperate measures. I tore open the bag of the Salt and Pepper Kettle Chips I had stashed away and yelled "Here! Take the chips! Take'em!" and ran, pelting up the hill to the sound of snarling, feeding actors.........

That was a close one.

Went home and watched the tube with my wife.