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WINNIE THE POOH & JUDY, TOO
by knittinkitten at 12/15/2007 7:57:52 AM
WINNIE THE POOH & JUDY, TOO
“Auntie Judy, if I get a role in the production at the
Aloha Theater, will you drive me to rehearsals?” It
was a simple request …. or so I thought. And, I
answered, “Sure, why not!”
My adventures began immediately. At the first of 36
rehearsals, it was quite apparent that assistance was
needed in taking measurements for 39 costumes!
There were two months of rehearsals, I never counted
the hours, and I put over 1,000 miles on my mom’s car.
But, it was a fantastic journey. Inside the busy
beehive of activity behind the curtain, I spent
precious hours in the company of folks who tirelessly
gave of their time and talents to make a professional
theater production.
I saw plywood, chicken wire and sheets become a
magnificent tree. I learned that “producing” a show is
“doing whatever it takes to make it happen!”. The kids
were terrific; some veterans, and, some were on the
public stage for the first time.
Among the memorable folks I met was Luna, the Costume
Designer…. a “magic lady”, with more creativity in her
head than Simplicity has patterns. I offered to assist
her. We sewed and sewed and fitted and ripped and
re-stitched. After at least a dozen sewing machine
needles and 25 spools of thread, we had what we KNEW
were the finest costumes ever created! (However, we
never gave thought that some of the children would
GROW before the play was over!).
Our first dilemma was the stuffing for the animal
tails. Cotton batting made them so top heavy that the
littlest children couldn’t carry the weight and began
toppling over backwards. We finally used those pesky
lightweight packing peanuts. They worked, and our
little animals scampered all over the forest without
falling.
Our next challenge was “wings”. No forest is complete
without butterflies and dragonflies … I guess? We
spent days attaching delicate gossimer to wires, using
up dozens of glue sticks. The wings were outstanding…
about 3 feet outstanding ….. and fragile…very fragile.
After every rehearsal, we made massive repairs. The
children simply forgot that they were 3 feet wide as
they flitted through the forest.
It’s not easy to make high top sneakers look like
paws, so after miles and miles of Velcro and elastic,
many of our forest animals were sporting spats to
cover their sneakers. The boys had absolutely REFUSED
to wear ballet slippers.
Most people think of Hawaii as “Paradise” and
“Paradise it is ….. unless you need yellow tights for
‘bird legs’. We found pink ones and spray painted them
banana yellow. By the final performance, the yellow
was faded, but at least they were NOT pink.
I think that was the season when my hair became
grayer. On opening night, Piglet ran up to me and
announced, “I don’t have a tail”. I quickly fashioned
one from some hot pink pipe cleaners but then
remembered that AA Milne’s perky little piggy simply
didn’t have a tail.
One night, just six minutes before curtain time, Roo
became ill and could not perform. I felt so badly for
her, but not as badly as I would have felt had she
thrown up ON her costume! Within the remaining six
minutes we had Roo’s understudy out of her bird
costume (1 less bird in the forest that night), and
into the Roo costume. Thank goodness they were the
same size, almost .. and, God Bless iron on Velcro!
One day the Set Designer tripped over a badly placed
bucket of green paint and sat there with his feet
bathed in “forest green”. We were so proud of him for
the language he did NOT use in front of the children.
The time has passed and, after the final performance,
Pooh was placed back into the book and I reflect. The
‘brown bag’ & cold pizza dinners were all worth it. It
was an intense time, an exhilarating time…what an
enriching experience.
I had agreed to be a “chauffer”, but I really got so
much more. I witnessed the struggles and the triumphs
of the young actors learning and mastering their
lines. I stood toe to toe with some of the most
talented people I have ever met. What I clearly saw
was at least 10 businesses being run at
once…promotion, tickets, backstage crew, t-shirt
sales, costumes, make-up, props, even hall monitoring
when needed…after all, youth will be youth..39 of
them. May I add a “Thank You to A.A. Milne, too.
This was taken from an article I published in the
local Kona, Hawaii newspaper in April, 1999. My niece
is now in college. My mom finally sold her car…she’s
95 now. My dear friend, Luna died a few years ago from
cancer. The Aloha Theater now has its own building,
and I’m grateful to have these wonderful memories and
to set them before you in Blogs. Hope you enjoyed
reading it.
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