Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Monday, November 23, 2020

Showtime!


We’ve spent our lives in theatre, t’was what we loved to do,

But stage life didn’t always work the way we wished it to.

So here is just a taste of the things ‘to be or not to be’,

That tell that you belong within the ‘Theatre Community’!


If your trusty sofa’s on the stage much more than you, yourself,

You have a ‘Frequent Shopper’ card for all the Goodwill shelves,

Or can’t find your own vacuum, but within the Prop Room there

Can easily find a prop that’s not been used for twenty years!

You've ‘cleaned up’ a tuxedo using black felt pen.

It’s hot glue holds your costume on until production ends,

You’ve seriously considered NOT enacting the murder scene,

Cause a gun would wake the audience and might make them really mean,

Tech Week finds you devoting all your troupe’s impressive powers

In getting your play’s running time to under four long hours,

Your kids have begged you not to buy them Happy Meals once more,

They’re better with your lines (and with your cast, better rapport),

Your son just played your father with his makeup thick and veined,

You race back to rehearsal ‘cause you forgot your kids—again,

You’re the only guy auditioned, so you nat’rally got the part,

The cast outstrips the audience when the play is due to start,

Your gun is held together with electric tape, quite black,

You've leaned out through a window ‘fore you thought to fold it back,

The audience recognizes you in makeup and moustache,

Cause just before the show they saw you taking out the trash!

The set designer cautions not to enter from stage left,

(Though you're onstage in five) cause all of that half is still wet,

In dinner gown and heels, you’ve moved a sofa ‘cross the stage,

Or done the same (and you’re a guy!) and feeling mighty strange…


All this and more is just a taste of what it means to be

A member of the troupe of the ‘Theatre Community’!

 


Cause Mondays do get knocked a lot,

With poetry, we all besought,

To try to make the week begin

With pleasant thoughts,

Perhaps a grin?

So Jenny, Charlotte, Mimi, me

Have crafted poems for you to see.

And now you’ve read what we have wrought…

Did we help?

Or did we not?

 

Next week, it won’t be very hard,

We’ll talk about the festive CARD!

 

 

21 comments:

  1. That's a great poem - it really captures the ups and downs of Am-Dram productions. I used to play 'bit' parts in my local church productions, and we had lots of fun both during rehearsals and performances. Happy days!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those were the best of times, SBM. 45 years of it. Till Covid shut us down. ...mumble...grumble... :(

      Delete
  2. Here's my contribution - a different kind of show!

    Precious Percy is full of joy
    As the girl from ‘Pampered Puss’
    Says, “Percy, you are a handsome boy”
    And combs his fur up to a ruff
    Around his neck. Doesn’t he look swell!
    Far smarter than wearing a velvet collar
    Is to sport a ruff ‘au naturelle’.
    Bathed and combed, claws trimmed and clean,
    Percy is looking his best
    Now sitting on the window seat
    All he has to do is rest.

    As the sun shines through the window
    Percy dozes in the light
    His tail curled neatly around his paws
    He is such a charming sight.
    He is suddenly awakened
    By a rushing to and fro.
    Come on, Percy, get into your cage -
    We are off to the Autumn Show!



    Percy is feeling rather bored
    Already he has the measure
    Of all those prissy lah-di-dahs
    Whose eyes are on the treasured
    “Best in Class” and “Best in Show” -
    He can’t see what the fuss is.
    He slyly winks at Moonlight Glow,
    The prettiest of the pussies.
    Moonlight Glow is not amused
    She tilts her queenly head
    Disdainfully, and bats her eyes
    At the lady judge instead.

    Percy takes no interest in all that is going on
    He yawns, and flicks his tail, and yawns
    As the day drags on and on.
    His thoughts are fixed on going home
    And wondering what is for dinner …

    When a cheer goes up, and he is grabbed and hugged,
    As he is proclaimed “Best Moggy” winner!

    (Top Notch, Percy!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A cat show! They should all be winners in my book.

      Delete
    2. Way to go, Percy!
      This brings back memories of getting cattle ready to show. All the fussing and primping and preening. Then that final 'clap on the rump' that signalled the winner!
      Vastly different in size, but the process is much the same! ;)

      Delete
    3. I like that. Best Moggi is a fine title :)

      Delete
  3. I'd love to see one of your productions. If you didn't live so far away... I would!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And I would SO love to see you here, Laurie! Maybe someday...

      Delete
  4. I loved your poem. Not a reality I ever knew, but you made it sound fascinating. And all consuming.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It certainly consumed us! My kids were all raised 'on the stage'. More than once I can remember saying, "Put your homework away! That was your cue!!!"

      Delete
  5. What fun it is to be in the limelight, even if you are just in the background. Once in the school play, i won the part of Peter Pan. The principal yelled that it had to be a boy, and i was demoted to understudy. My career ended before it began.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, wow! In my world you would have been front and centre! (Except when that part of the floor was still wet...)

      Delete
  6. "Did we help?" definitely, you're now on my right-margin blogroll.

    ReplyDelete
  7. If you are looking for more festive themes, how about Festive Traditions?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oooh! Good one, SBM! We'll use that one for December 7!

      Delete
  8. I could see those scenes in my minds eye. Well written.

    What is a festive card?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just saw this, Charlotte! Probably too late for this week. I'm so sorry! A festive card is a card for a holiday! Birthday, Christmas, Anniversary...

      Delete
  9. Perfect poem. You always have the best stories!

    ReplyDelete

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