Theater

Time: August 10, 1991
Place: Las Positas College
Role: Gus
Director: Lynn Goodwin

Being in a show gives you a whole different perspective. For example, Babes in Arms. Now, I was in it so I thought of it one way. But the people who saw the show seemed to think another way. I guess the doers liked the show a bit more than the watchers. Some time after doing the show, I slowly became enlightened to the fact that people just didn't seem to care much for the show. It wasn't the actors they said, but more the story. At least, that's what they told us. If that's not the case, then I don't want to be enlightened any further.

I put quite a bit of effort into auditioning for Babes. I had copied the script. Studied it daily and really practiced for the part. In the end, it paid off. I got a great part. Sometimes that extra effort helps, other times, it's useless.

Babes was a fun show to be in. The cast really did seem to bond well. We had fun meeting out at the college on weekends and building the sets. A group of us even dubbed ourselves, "The Four Musketeers". That's because we were good friends and there were four of us. We planned to be friends for many, many years to come. A few months after the show ended, we stopped hanging out.

I did sort of date someone from the show. She was someone I knew but never really clicked with before that time. But something happened during the run and I really did start to fall for her. Maybe it was all the kissing on stage. I don't know. It was all in vain because during that time she had a boyfriend. I couldn't expect her to give up her boyfriend although I wish she had. But as time grew on, feelings faded and we were back to being friends.

My part in Babes was my first larger role. It was a light comedy and kind of corny at that, but a good experience nonetheless. Doing college theatre really does tend to make you grow more as an actor. I've seen people go into the college as mediocre and come out as top notch performers. I'm not sure where I stood so I stayed there for 6 years just to be sure. Afterwards, I got a chance to be a bit dumber than ever before.