The Play's the Thing



The Play's the Thing

We met in the laundry mat
I was in an off campus apartment
He was in just out of a marriage house.
He invited me to tryouts
for Night of the Iguana.

I didn't much like him
Don't think he liked me
I got a small part and lights
He had a bigger role
A brain and a car.

I first fell in love
with the theater.
The director fell for all I could do
My neighbor was in charge
of delivering me.

I remember my first lines
Spoken in an amateur play
I do not remember our first kiss
The first time we shared a stage
I remember better.

I designed the costumes and sets
for the Importance of Being Ernest
He slept with the ingenue
I did a 20 minute monologue
In Androcles and the Lion.

I played Mercy
In The Crucible
Proctor laid the lead witch
I danced the cast parties
With every actor but him.

Moving in with him
Seemed just another role
A part to be studied
And memorized
Line perfect.

The curtain never came down
I just exited stage right
In the middle of the second act.
The blessed silence
Ringing in my ears.

J. Binford-Bell
September 2015

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