There's No Business Like Snow Business

    Once again, the show must go on, despite snow and wind.
    After four weeks of rehearsal, the cast of "Pools Paradise" at the high school was both nervous and anxious but ready to have an audience last Friday. Advanced weather warnings prompted school officials to announce mid-day Thursday that there would be no school Friday. At that time, everyone expected to be able to get the show cleared and go on with the show Saturday evening as scheduled. The blizzard had different ideas and created drifts large enough to move the play to a Monday/Tuesday slot. If you've ever been to the high school, you know how windy it can be up there on the north edge of the prairie.
    So the play cast sat home Saturday and Sunday, hoping they still remembered their lines when the lights finally came up and the audience was ready to be entertained.
    "Pools Paradise" is a show we did in the Homestead Theater years ago, and it was a lot of fun and something of a crowd-pleaser.
    There's really not much to the plot, except for a wife's attempts to hide the fact that she may have won big money in the football pools from her husband, the vicar. The British apparently have a fondness for watching religious professionals run around in collars, robes, kilts, robes, and other various embarrassing outfits and looking somewhat dim-witted and human. In most British farces, it's the women who stand around "looking befuddled." In this and others of its ilk, it's the clerics who are two steps behind.
    Our cast at the Homestead included veteran performers Darleen Clifton Smith, Kristina Mortimer, Kent Ross, Joe Walker and Sarah Schaeffer, all of whom handled comedy expertly. The pace and style of farce came naturally to them and the action clipped along at a breathless but controlled rate. Two other actors who added to the fun were Greg White, who was the drama instructor at DCCC at the time and who now teaches in Coffeyville, and Paul Marshall, who worked at Carnegie and sadly died two years ago.
    Paul was perfect for British farce — most of his day-to-day existence was riddled with farcical elements: he was better at the witty comment well placed than anyone else I know. He knew every withering line from every old movie and he laid in wait for the perfect time to drop them. He had a comic sensibility that was Martini-dry but delicious none the less. When he was asked how he thought a youngster we knew would take a younger sibling he replied "By the throat..."
    So I sat in the auditorium of the high school last night, anticipating the beginning of the play and remembering the fun we had when we did it.
    Once the curtain rose — well actually, once the light came up and the action started, the young but experienced cast had me fully involved in their performance.
    You can always tell if the cast has taken their preparations for the play seriously: if they know their lines, if they commit to the style of the script, and if they throw themselves enthusiastically, energetically, but in a disciplined way into the action. Can they maintain the pace of the show from start to finish? Can they stay in character? How do they handle any little mis-haps that might occur?
    This cast obviously enjoyed doing this play for us and they did it well.
    Many of the cast members have also worked on stage at the college and at the Depot. Some have been involved in the Depot's student division for years. All this experience and training clearly shows up on stage in their performances. These actors know how to create a character and how to bring that character into interaction with other actors on stage. They know a fair amount about comic timing.
    The tech crew did a great job with sets lights, costumes and sound. A loyal team of adults helped in many areas with preparation.
    As usual, most of the leads in this production are seniors and this is their final production at DCHS. No more plays, no more musicals, no more floor shows. This particular crop of students has been both productive and competent. It's been a joy to watch them grow up and improve. Some of them are thinking about going into performing arts -- I'd advise them to think twice. Still, individually and as a group, they leave behind a grateful and entertained audience who wishes them well but will miss them.
    At least in this instance, they have proven that despite a short and scattered rehearsal schedule, the interruption of spring break, and a major blizzard on opening night, they can still deliver a polished and memorable performance.
    Thanks and good luck from the guy in the seventh row.