April 13, 2024 (wrote the poem before midnight!)

NaMoWriPo #14: Going up is a theatrical term that actors say when lines leave their brains. A moment of distraction on stage can make one go up or if the slippery phrase or unusual wording is barely in your grasp to begin with or it is tricky to keep inside you why you are doing what you are doing on stage, then you can lose those lines instantly even if you’ve done them many times before. Acting isn’t easy.

 Some folks find the memorization easy and the acting hard. Others, like me, find the memorization hard work, but the acting much easier to click into. My mind judges me for not finding the exact word and then it skips like on a record and I have a “brain fart” of forgetting the phrase in that moment. I am hard on myself and try not to be or I won’t remember anything. Breath is key. Going on is key. I’ve found this in life too that I need to keep going and breathing when I “go up” or when the words don’t quite make sense.

 The picture is from my most recent show, My Fair Lady with the Woodland Park Players this past month. I played Mrs. Higgins and there were nights I did have instances of going up but I kept breathing and got through it and am extremely proud that it had been 8 years since I'd done a full role on stage. The first picture is me on stage with Eliza, played by the incredible Amanda Cirie. The other two pictures are backstage with Freddy, played by the uber-talented Michael Sterling.

By CMT photos@ColinMadisonphoto

 Going Up

Perseverance doesn’t make perfect

Providence can steamroll

Closeup on pounds of makeup I wore

Flattening out blueprinted lives

Till the lines of roads

Crisscross what looks unnatural

Or like a cake that was decorated

By a drunken man

Who designed one thing

But it came out another

Currents cross wire

The brain spin

Out of control

Or slow to a crawl

My favorite costume!

What was there

Minutes before

And was so sure

Slipped off onto the floor

Or up beyond the last row

Breathe one and two

It returns as a clue

Settling back in

It must go on

Part of the show