NIGHT MUST FALL

                               

At the end of my sophomore year at Sarasota High, my drama teacher, Paul McClure, decided to direct Night Must Fall which had been a huge theatrical success.  The play had atmosphere, mystery and fantastic parts for actors. He knew he was fortunate enough to have exactly the right cast in his group of graduating seniors.  Ellen Geer, who was to have a career spanning fifty years, was given the meatiest role.  The leading 
role, a charming, manipulative young man
who manages to worm his way into the affections of a wealthy old widow, her young, bored companion and Dora, her maid, was played by the school's finest actor, the charismatic Terry Shank.  Dora, the none-too-bright servant girl, is pregnant, the result of a brief liaison with our leading man who has a way with words.  Since I was in awe of the entire cast and had that "deer caught in the headlights" expression, I was perfect for the frightened Dora, who probably knew as much about sex as I did, which is to say, very little.  Rehearsals were grueling and all too brief, but we all knew that something extraordinary was happening, one of those rare times in the theatre when everything comes together in exactly the right way--when something magical is born and every person in the audience feels it.  The young cast bonded in a way I have never experienced since.

We gave two performances at the Palmtree Playhouse. an Equity theatre we were able to rent as their season was over.  We had a large, responsive audience the first night who must have spread the word as the next performance was completely sold out.  During our final scene that last night I realized that there was no sound in the theatre but the actors' voices; the audience was spellbound, completely caught up in what was happening onstage.  I suddenly realized that I didn't want this experience to end.   But of course it did.  The audience streamed backstage but no one quite knew how to express their powerful and unexpected feelings.

There was a party afterwards.  And as I looked around at the faces of these actors who had become my friends, I realized that they were far more important to me than I was to them.  They would all graduate in a few days and I would probably never see them again.  I started to cry and couldn't stop.

And I never did see any of them again.