Tag Archive for 'children’s theater of elgin'

I’ve worked with The Children’s Theater of Elgin in one way or another for 12 years now. I started when I was 12, when my friend convinced me to come with her and audition for the summer musical. I remember being nervous, but I don’t remember remarking too much on it. I was only there out of tween solidarity, it would be another couple weeks before I even noticed all the cute girls my age. I sang Happy Birthday, like any, unprepared, 12-year-old boy, and I didn’t sing it well.

I’d been in a few plays before that in elementary school. Hey, I played the swine in Charlotte’s Web, and the the Mayor (or Police Man?) in Highland Elementary School’s acclaimed 2nd grader production of the post-modern “Wiggle Worm.” I mean, I was no stranger to the the-a-ter, my friends.

But I was still surprised when they actually gave me a part. I played the part of a building contractor named “Smash,” who spoke only in nouns (cutting-edge the-a-ter). The play took place in the basement of Hemmens Auditorium, on a square of floor the director called the Stage, surrounded by seats like bleachers.

Backstage was really a relative idea in these early days, and included the area behind the thin, black curtain, the kitchen, and the hallway, etc. I quickly found out that Backstage was where all the fun happened. Now and then the fun would be interrupted by brief attempts at Acting, on the Stage, but at that age I tended not to worry myself too much about those sorts of things. I only spoke in nouns anyway.

With respect to those out there that still remember this tragic summer production, and to those out there that hand a hand in it – this play was beautiful chaos. The set – which was basically a 12 foot sneaker that housed a small family (read: cutting-edge the-a-ter) – was an ambitious design for the time and manpower available, and seemed to be a point of tension among those in charge. The director had this annoying habit of interrupting our fun Backstage with rants and raves about the amount of talking that was going on. Talking? Who’s talking? I wonder who he’s talking about. Man, are they in trouble. (We would say to our friends between rants.)

Somewhere in the chaos of costumes, too much rouge and a giant sneaker, I found my one true passion in life: Girls. Wait, no: Theater. There are those in life that stay away from chaos and crisis at all costs, and there are people that crave chaos and seek crisis: these people are called Performers. I found that I was a Performer.

Not far into the show the piano player noticed that, while backstage, I was hanging around him more than the others, looking over his shoulder, trying to see which buttons he pushed, what fingers he used. He was probably intrigued by this little kid looking over his shoulder, who only spoke in nouns, who wore too much rouge, who spent a lot of time backstage. By “intrigued,” I mean “wanted someone to turn his pages.” I dutifully volunteered to turn the piano player’s pages for the rest of the show. It was then I found my second true passion in life: Girls. Wait, no…

I auditioned for the next CTE show in the fall, and it was during this production that I really found what was important in my life: getting my picture in the paper. Sure, it was a little fuzzy and unfocused – but that was me. See those four fuzzy figures? See the one that sort of looks like a scarecrow? Yes, the brown blob of ink. That’s me!

My sixth grade teacher took me out in the hall a few days later and remarked on how proud he was that I was in going to be in a theater production, and he handed me a clipping of the picture that had been in the paper. Man, I was hooked then.

I found a group of friends in CTE that were loyal, sincere, affectionate and – most importantly – overtly melodramatic. They were perfect for me. My best friends, even to this very day, are made up of some collection of those people that I grew up with in CTE. When I got my diagnosis, these friends came running out of everywhere to help pick me up and put me back together. At the risk of being overtly melodramatic, I ardently love these people.

It wasn’t until I reached high school that I realized that this Acting thing required active concentration, and that the older you got, the more sincere you needed to be with it. It scared me a little. I mean, that sounded like actual work.

Luckily, I had developed a talent in music by this age that kept me in Performing, but saved me from having to do any serious work (yet). I did what would be my last production as an actor with CTE in 1995, and, like a child, swore off acting for the rest of my life. Now that I’m older, I sometimes wish I could try my hand at acting again, but a feasible opportunity for volunteer performance never seems to present itself these days.

To my good fortune, I found that as soon as I quit acting with CTE, they hired me to play the piano for them. Yes, get this, now they would PAY me to come goof around at rehearsals. It was like stepping into some alternate universe, like finding some loophole – it was better than getting your picture in the paper.

I don’t remember, perhaps I was 16 or 17 when they first hired me. I was in high school, then college. I would make recordings for their shows in my dorm room and send them home. I got kind of cocky about it, I think it was me that actually started referring to myself as the “music director,” I don’t think anyone else ever mentioned the title. Given the chance I probably would have made myself business cards and letterhead with my big schnoz all over, I was so cocky.

Inevitably, I started to feel the nag of Success that seems to work like such a plague on my generation. This is the thing that makes so many hate their hometown and their roots, and what makes them move to exciting, lonely places with big names, to prove that they have acheived It. This seems to come on during the late high school years, and can last a whole lifetime if you’re not careful.

I acquired a jet-set lifestyle and took off to see as many countries as I could. I dropped out of college for a year, worked at Disney World, counted sea turtles in Hawaii, mapped coral reefs in Fiji. I backpacked Europe, learned to speak German, and drove across the US. Twice. I went back to college and graduated with what one might call a cosmetic degree in Germanic Studies.

I was WAAAY too cool for my hometown by this point, but I had an annoying lack of “funds” or “direction,” that necessitated my continual residence there. I worked on just about every summer show CTE put on – and if you know CTE at all, you know that these summer productions are not just productions, but PRODUCTIONS. It was fun, but I was frustrated, and I still had this nagging feeling, and I wanted to find a different gig.

I got a job playing keyboards in a cruise ship. 6 months and 29 countries later I found myself back in Elgin, clinging to the mattress of my old bed, happy for the experience, but vowing never, ever, ever to ever, ever leave ever again. Ever. I couldn’t wait to work for CTE again.

But I was tired when I returned. There was something wrong with me. I didn’t know what it was. But I found out. It was something awful. And that’s why you’re here reading this.

Over the years, CTE has given me a personality, a social life, a direction, opportunities, my picture in the paper, etc. And now, when things are really bad, I see that they are the ones to come rescue me. I still haven’t come up with the right words to describe my earnest gratitude for the benefit show they are putting on for me in January. Maybe I’ll find them by the time of the show.

The show will be held on January 7th at 8pm at the Elgin Centre Ballroom in Elgin, IL. For conspicuous, impressive and persuasive reasons, tickets are exorbitantly over-priced. Thank you to everyone who will attend.