When I cast my memory back far enough, it seems as if I have always been stage struck.
As a first-grader, I was picked to play a child in the senior class play at Stockton High School. Maybe it was my pigtails? I only knew that I was excused from class early on several afternoons a week so that I could rehearse with the big kids.
Then, when I graduated to Yorkville Elementary School, I was cast as Daffy Down Dilly (and no, I don’t THINK it has anything to do with my being a bit daffy myself) in the grade school performance of something to do with Mother Goose.
And somewhere along the line I was cast as Dad’s granddaughter in a drama competition entered by the Yorkville Farmers’ Club.
I was primed by the time of my own senior class play and was cast as one of the murderous aunts in “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Uncle Jim sent flowers! And I certainly remember the thrill of seeing my first professional theater performance in Chicago.
I just enjoy anything to do with theater and this past Sunday my Best Friend and I attended a production of Neil Simon’s “Prisoner of Second Avenue” on stage at Harmony Hall. Produced by Ted Compton, founder of On The Line Production Company, it was — sadly — almost a well-kept secret. It would have escaped our notice if Number Two son had not been in the cast.
Neil Simon is our modern master of comedy who manages to make a nervous breakdown as amusing as Woody Allen’s angst-ridden heroes. When a Simon play is well cast and well directed — Sandra Groves did the honors for “Prisoner” — it makes for a pleasant change from Sunday football. If you are determined not to miss Sunday performances on the gridiron, “Prisoner” was also performed both Friday and Saturday evenings.
I believe this was a second production of Compton’s company which is dedicated to keeping theater alive in Terre Haute. He also produced “The Diary of Anne Frank” last spring, which we missed, again thanks to little advance publicity. Even after a brief item in the “’Bash” a week or so ago, it was not included in the theater section of things to do this past weekend.
It was a performance well worth a couple of hours. As a stage-struck senior citizen I have learned there are few roles on offer for a senile ingenue, but a good play never disappoints.
Bravo, young Mr. Compton!
Liz Ciancone is a retired Tribune-Star reporter. Send e-mail to opinion@tribstar.com.
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LIZ CIANCONE: Lure of the stage gets in your veins
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I’m told that eveyone should have a hobby. If “hobby” means collecting something like stamps or coins, I don’t have one.
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I know this is going to sound goofy, but Mothers’ Day never passes that I don’t think of my Uncle Jim.
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I got to the sports center the other morning and found Ben, Diane and Ron in a serious discussion about cars — vintage cars.
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I’m old enough to have seen some interesting fluctuations in weather, but this year has taken the gold-plated trophy.
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I put down my fork after supper the other evening and remembered our family suppers when I was a kid.
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It’s funny how your perspective on holidays changes as you grow older. I thought of that the other morning as we are about to start the countdown to Memorial Day.
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It seems like only yesterday we’d head for the Family Sports Center at an early hour. The sky in the east was a lighter shade of gray. We could see kids waiting for the school bus a block or more ahead. By the time we got to Hulman Field, there was actually a bit of pink in the sky.
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Ho hum! Another spring, another nail-biter for Cubs fans.
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Over lunch the other day, my Best Friend and I were discussing our earliest memories. Neither of us could actually attach an age to our earliest. He informed me that while you could remember incidents, you must develop what he called “cognitive awareness” before you could associate the memory with a specific age.
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Remember when college sports were actually games? A good, friendly rivalry added spice to the Saturday afternoon festivities when I was in college.
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LIZ CIANCONE: And why didn’t they call him ‘Kernel’?
A brief article recently in the Chicago Tribune reminded me of a noble experiment which flopped.
The late Col. Robert McCormick, owner of the “Trib,” launched a crusade against what he said was the “unspeakable offence” of English spelling. I was still in grade school, struggling with spelling on a daily basis, so I thought it was a splendid idea. The idea never caught on and after 40 years, the colonel and the Trib threw in the towel.
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Our family birthdays are well staggered throughout the year, so we try to make them special.
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I’m not a big movie fan, but a few days ago Number Two son said he almost had to have me sedated and hauled off to a movie. He insisted that I’d enjoy it.
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Good grief. What next?
I read recently that there is a movement underfoot to cease teaching cursive writing in the public schools. I understand that this is merely a suggestion and is optional, but still …
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It’s amazing how many of us at the Family Sports Center are involved with pets. But I recently became aware of how involved some of us have become.
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I hate being in a minority, but I guess I am. I am considerably less than thrilled over having the Super Bowl altogether too close to my back yard.
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Mark Bennett’s delightful story of how his son acquired Barry Larkin’s autograph reminded me of how Number Two son scored the signature of Mike Ditka.
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I told my Best Friend the other day that I thought I’d write about growing up stupid. “We weren’t stupid,” said he, “we were just sheltered and naive.” He’s right. We had no idea that there were people and things in the world that would want to hurt us.
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MS. TAKES: Some look forward to spring and garage sales
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In the holiday spirit of giving, I’d like to pass along to Congress a tip I ran across in my reading. If adopted, it would enable the competing parties in Washington, D.C. to enhance federal income without raising taxes or reducing social programs.
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It’s going to be a Merry Christmas for the Albert Pujols family this year!
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I had an especially dear friend who went into a blue funk in Christmas season. She once threatened to spell out “Bah, Humbug!” in twinkle lights on her lawn.
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Somehow, in the vast scheme of things, I have ended up point person for holiday baking.
I know how it happened. Mom was a great cook. I’d give almost anything if I had found her recipe for raisin sugar cookies or the chocolate-orange cake. She turned out coffee cakes, sweet rolls, bread, butterfly rolls and sweet surprises. We always had dessert.
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Mom always told me to be sure I never left the house with torn or dirty underwear. She usually added a warning about being hit by a truck or a bus, or some other catastrophe befalling, so that I’d be carted off to the hospital where my tattered underwear would become a matter of public record and private shame.
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I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen enough “debates” to last the rest of my natural life.
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