Backyard Plays

In my memory, they started when I was 5. Because they pre-dated the tutelage of Hood Elementary School. Though, it seems impossible that even I was precocious enough to be organizing and directing these extravaganzas at 5. I have only my memory to rely upon; my sisters were definitely out of the house by the time they began, and none others involved are available for me to ask. (I know my sisters were gone because the songs we performed were from their abandoned albums, or perhaps albums I stole from them as they prepared to leave. I was definitely precocious enough to have stolen my favorites from their collection as they packed up to leave.)


I do know that older kids - years older - were involved, though I was clearly in charge. (Some things seem to never change.) The skits were reenactments of scenes from my favorite TV shows or movies, or original creations written (well probably not written at 5) or created by me. My mother provided costumes as needed. The house my family had lived in for 25 years by then provided an assortment of props. My father's and grandfather's hats, my grandmother's walker, clothes from trunks in the attic, an assortment of accessories left behind by teenage sisters, visiting great-uncles and vaguely related English cousins filled the stage and adorned every type of character to perfection. Or, at least it seemed so to this pint-sized impresario.


In an early entrepreneurial venture (before I cut down the lilac bush and sold sprigs around the neighborhood from the back of my Radio Flyer Red Wagon), I charged parents (other peoples, not mine), older siblings, and various others connected somehow to my large cast five cents to see the show. It might not sound like much, but it bought an enormous amount of comic books in 1969. (It started the collection that I sold off to purchase my first computer almost 20 years later.) The shows were sprawling spectacles. Again, some things rarely change.


The shows were fully driven by me, but I often gave away most of the best parts to others. Though, I always saved a star turn or show stealer for myself. I remember jungle adventures, featuring my dog Andy playing any and all animals required. The adults seemed to especially enjoy some re-created movies scenes that held meanings hidden to the 7 and 8 year olds performing them, but clear to the parents. (And, definitely hidden from me, but I had an impressive memory for conversation even then, and could often repeat verbatim conversations of which I had no understanding. My mother had trained me to repeat back anything I overheard in neighbors' houses.)


I think all of my relatives were sure in my childhood that I would end up in some aspect of performance. And, maybe they were right. But, most of the performances have been in life, and not on a stage.