Preposterous Post

My day started like any other day, at noon. I awoke to a beautifully warm and sunny day. Bluebirds sang happy tunes out my window. A scantily clad waitress served me a bacon cheeseburger, french fries and chocolate milkshake in bed. I gleefully chomped and slurped my through a high caloric, trans fatty meal as the waitress caressed my feet. Then the alarm went off.

My day actually started as I struggled to open my weary eyes to a bleak and cloudy day. I didn't know it, but the storm clouds were brewin' I slammed off the alarm clock with all the fury I could muster at such an early hour. I stumbled downstairs like a drunk party crasher and in to the kitchen, eager to settle the rumbling in my stomach. The present contents of my refrigerator, yogurt from a houseguest I had last October and a cheese wrapper. I chewed on the cheese wrapper, savouring the remaining taste of cheese, and put it back in the refrigerator. Tomorrow I'll scrape the astro turf-like greenness from the yogurt and chow down.

It was about one o'clock, five hours before I had to be at the playhouse to manage the front of the house for the night's performance of Comedy of Errors. What to do in the meantime? Ding dong ditching my neighbors brought a brief smile to my face, but alas that requires some degree of physical activity, besides it had started to rain a little. Remember storm clouds are brewin'. I settled on an afternoon of baking chocolate chip cookies. Seriously, I bake a tasty cookie.

Dressed in my swanky black uniform, cookies in hand I made my way to Playhouse on Park. The wind blew the light rain through the trees under the darkening sky. Undeterred, I drove through the crappy weather, the business of show must go on.

Just after I passed under the playhouse marquee. Sheets of glass rained down from above. To put it in perspective, I was like an action hero diving away from an explosion in a nick of time. Shards of glass were everywhere. Without hesitation I bounded back outside broom and receptacle in hand. To put in perspective, I was like Batman pulling just the right device from his utility belt.

The wind and rain were picking up, eager theater-goers were arriving. With my booming voice and super hero-like posture, I kept them at bay. In a flash I had dispersed the fallen glass, the crowd roared its approval. Surveying the situation I noticed a huge shard of glass dangling perilously off the marquee. To put it in perspective it was like a tanker truck loaded with explosives teetering on the edge of a cliff. Without regard for my own safety I dashed in to the playhouse and retrieved a large ladder. Hoisting it on my shoulder I raced outside, planted the ladder on the ground an scurried to the top. Just then a gust of wind blew the ladder out from under me. I grabbed on to the marquee as the ladder crashed to the ground. A collective gasp echoed from the crowd below. A concerned colleague raced from the playhouse to snap an iconic picture of my heroic deed.

With a fierce wind and a driving rain, I struggled to grasp the marquee with one hand and reach for the large shard of glass before it could blow across the way injuring some unsuspecting children. I had but one chance to prevent a catastrophe, so with a gymnastic-like kick of my leg, I launched the shard of glass in to the air, it fell through a sewer grate where its razor sharp ferocity would not endanger anyone anymore. I lost my grip and plummeted toward the unforgiving pavement. Like a nimble super hero or a gymnast, I landed on my feet. The crowd rushed to embrace me, hoisting me on their shoulders and parading me down the street as confetti fell from every building. Alas the show would go on!

And then there's the more mundane interpretation. The glass was broken before I got there. I swept it up. It wasn't raining at the time. There was a decent size glass shard half off the marquee. I climbed the ladder and removed it. The concerned colleague did snap a few pictures, which she'll probably use to ridicule me. I do sleep late and I have a bit more food in my refrigerator. I just wanted to set the record straight, in case you believed my preposterous post. If you did, I'd like to sell you some real estate.

Playhouse Profile: Mollie Cook

When you attend a show at Playhouse on Park, you see a lot of people working there; a house manager, box office employees, ushers and actors. What you don't see is the person working behind the scenes during the show. At Playhouse on Park that person is Wardrobe Mistress/Assistant Stage Manager Mollie Cook.

Mollie is a Senior at Hall High School who began working at the Playhouse during her junior year. She was approached by Hall High School Acting Teacher and Playhouse Artistic Director Sean Harris to fill in. Eight shows later she has become a reliable fixture backstage.

Before each show begins, Mollie is backstage doing a pre-show setting of props and costumes. Once the show begins, she positions herself at one of the prop tables with her computer which has a copy of the script and a run list of her duties which vary depending on the show. "It's either extremely chaotic or really boring." Mollie says of her duties. "During Comedy of Errors there's a lot going on. Sometimes there would be two quick changes happening at once which is extremely chaotic." She adds.

Quick changes is one of the most challenging parts of her work, especially for Comedy of Errors. " I was not present for a real time run until opening night, that was very difficult. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I had to learn the pace of it on the spot." Mollie generally joins the production the weekend before it opens and then the two weekends of the show. She also responds to the needs of the actors during the run of the show. "If they get sick backstage or they hurt themselves, I'm the person who's back there, who has to get them help."

Mollie says she's learned from all the different actors that have come through Playhouse on Park. "They all have different training and since I also perform, I get to learn from what they do on stage." Mollie appeared on stage as the Mouse's reflection in Playhouse on Park's production of "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" last October. "That was one of my favorite roles I've ever done, because it was so much fun." She has also acted, worked behind the scenes and designed costumes at Hall High School.

Mollie plans to continue acting and designing costumes as she heads off to Umass Amherst in the fall to major in BA Theater Acting. "I love live theater. I think it's a more pure form of acting because it has to be the same every night. You have to do it more than once and you can't sit there and try to get the emotion out twenty times in a row, you have to get it."

As far as just sitting and watching a show she's not involved with, Mollie admits that it's very distracting. 'Oh look there's a techie backstage that I can see, I shouldn't be able to see you.' She quips. "It's almost impossible for me to sit and just watch a show."

Mollie displays an "I get to" attitude as opposed to an "I have to" attitude. No matter what aspect of her job she is doing, even the laundry. "I think I'm the lowest of all the employees here which I take with pride, because I really do enjoy what I do. I get to do the dirty work. I get to do the laundry. I get to fix stuff."

That kind of attitude will serve her well as she ponders her future ten years down the road. At the ripe old age of twenty-eight. "I hopefully see myself graduated from college in a theater somewhere. I don't really care where. I would love to work in a small theater or be in New York."

Whatever size theater or part of the country she ends up in, one thing is for sure, her positive attitude and hard work will propel her to great success in her professional career. Just remember, you heard the name Mollie Cook here first.