I the fall of 1986 we produced Crimes of the Heart by
Beth Henley for the first time.
We would do it again 13 years later and currently it is one
of about 40 plays suggested for next year’s season.
Harlequins, the student Theatre group has also done the play
at least once, maybe twice, but I am not sure.
A few special memories from that show that stand out in my
mind.
The funniest moment of the show happened one night when one
of the actresses was alone on the set and a chair broke apart when she sat down
on it.
When the actor playing Doc
came in he just ad-libed “ I see you broke a chair”.
He picked up all the pieces, carried them off stage and
brought back another chair and went on with the scene like nothing was wrong.
Many people in the audience thought it was a normal part of
the play and thought nothing was wrong, but of course everyone backstage was
dying, mostly laughing.
That year I had a student who stayed only half a year because
he had won a scholarship that only paid for the one semester.
“Pete” was a good student and worked very hard on the play.
He was very helpful in building the counters and upper cabinets
used in the set.
Soon after he left Brockport
he got a job with Nic and the Nice Guys,
a local party band based in Rochester.
During the time he worked with them they took him to the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics in Canada.
I kept in touch with him as he moved on to working for a
scenic studio in the Albany area and then he went back to school.
He stopped by Theatre while doing a college internship in the
Rochester area, but I lost track of him soon after that.
Of course the Theatre World is small and several years ago when
I was calling a Theatre Supply company I was transferred to his phone.
I would see him at a USITT conference the next year.
Just last week when I was on the phone with the same company
I was told that “Pete” was still working with them.
A few years ago I the son of the actor who played Doc took my stagecraft class and he was
my first second generation student.
I did have a student whose father had been a student at Brockport but that was before I my time.
We are still working on putting together next season’s plays
and I will let my readers know if we do Crimes of the Heart again.
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