WNPR
Remsen Welsh, a home-schooled 8th grader, plays the role of Rebecca Gibbs in the revival of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town at Long Wharf Theatre, which closes Nov. 2. She is keeping a diary of the experience. This installment is from the day of a student matinee.
On the day before opening night, Phil McGlaston, who plays Constable Warren, was injured and deemed unable to perform for the rest of the run. This was seamlessly mended by the amazing stage management team, who at the last minute found somebody else to fill in. As the saying goes, the show must go on! We had our opening on the 15th, which was an enormously fun night. These past few weeks seem to have flown by, and I am in disbelief that this is our 18th performance.
The day of the student matinee, when I got to Long Wharf for my call of 10:10, the theater was quiet, almost as if it were sleeping. A few people were milling around the stage and choir practice was about to start. As 10:30 rolled around Hope, the production stage manager, came over the monitor: “Half hour folks, half hour. The house is open now.” Within minutes of this announcement, you could hear the theater get louder with the excited talk of students eager to see the show for the first time. By the time it was 15 minutes to places, it sounded like a school lunchroom. Everybody was pretty excited to see how the kids would react to the show; the education department at Long Wharf had told us that for many of the kids attending, it would be the first time seeing a play.
As we made our entrance at the top of the show, there was a ripple of equivocal whispers, which soon quieted down as soon as the character of the Stage Manager (played by Myra Lucretia Taylor) started talking.
In the second act after the Soda Shoppe scene had finished, we were all surprised by applause from the kids.
All my cast mates were positive that there were going to be big laughs during the wedding scene for the kiss (of course) — but also for a gesture the rowdy baseball players made a bit before that. It turned out we were right. When the play came to the gesture, there was probably the biggest burst of communal laughter I have ever heard. Even after the fact there were still snickers and whispers going around the room. When we came to the kiss, there were so many squeals that it drowned out the Stage Manager’s lines that came immediately after. For some of my cast mates and I, it was a bit difficult to keep ourselves from not shaking with stifled laughter.
At curtain call I heard a few whistles and shouts throughout the house and a cacophony of applause, which in my mind meant that we had accomplished our task, and given the kids a play to remember.
Previous diary installments:
