The Odd Couple Coincidences

Tonight we had the pleasure of joining our friends Robin and Lynette to see "The Odd Couple" at the Douglas Morrison Theatre in Hayward. I'd never even heard of the place before just happening to walk past it a few weeks ago when I met up with the "new" Paula for a visit to the Japanese gardens next door.

At that time I remember thinking back to my experiences in community theater many years ago. Those were such fun times. One fond memory I have was when I played a sibling of Jesus in a play about the family of Jesus. We were all in period costumes and performed "in-the-round" in a very intimate setting where the audience was so close you could hear their hair growing.

Someone left a fig on a bench by mistake and I unknowingly sat on it. I sensed something was there but had no idea what was wrong until I was off stage. All I suspected was some kind of costume malfunction. But when I saw it, it was unrecognizable and I was horrified. It looked like poop but didn't stink. Someone had to tell me it was a fig. "It's a what?" (Until then I'd only heard of Fig Newtons and thought Fig was Newton's first name. ) I'd just been on stage for 10 minutes walking around with a big ol' fig stuck in the butt crack area of my costume one night. Great. The brother of Jesus poops his toga.

The reason we went to see "The Odd Couple" tonight was one of our friends, Emilie Frybarger, was playing the part of Gwendolyn Pigeon. I knew she was an eighth grade teacher but had no idea she was an actress. But I should have. She has a marvelous personality and impeccable comic timing.

She and Kelly Ball, playing Gwendolyn's sister Cecily Pigeon, were what gave this play its life force. Their performances were simply outstanding, outshining even the lead players. I could go on and on. And what a relief it was that the play (and Emilie's performance) was really good! When I found out that we were going to see the play and she was in it I was hesitant. I didn't want it to suck and then have to face her and have to come up with something polite to say. That's really hard for me to do. Much to my relief, it was a pleasure to watch.

And yes, twenty bucks is a lot to pay for a ticket to see community theater, especially for me. But tonight it felt like a good investment.