The second play I did at Sam Bass Theater was "Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean." It's an off-beat show dealing with some edgy (for Round Rock in 1984) issues. It jumps back and forth from high school to a 10-year reunion of the James Dean fan club. The premise is that you never know how the decisions you make will affect those around you.
I played Edna Louise Johnson, a dingbat (no surprise) who was constantly picked on and abused by one of the other girls in high school (also no surprise). As I had developed into a bit of a dingbat, and had been teased and tormented throughout high school, I felt like a natural in the role. At some point, in one of the reunion sequences, the bully looks at Edna and says something to the effect of, "And who the hell are you?" Edna Louise responds by getting right in her face and saying, "I'm Edna Louise Johnson, and I have a family that loves me and needs me and to whom I'm very important!" Bingo. The bullying is over.
What happened in real life was totally unexpected. I, who had never stood up to my bullies in school, suddenly held myself straighter. The next check-up at the doctor's office showed me to be almost a full inch taller than I had been. And I stood up to SSS, who was not used to the mouse developing a roar! OK, it was a pretty tiny roar; sort of a meep, actually, but the point is, it was noise. My life changed, and for the better.
This was also the show on which I met my husband. We became friends, and 14 years later, we started to date. We don't like to rush things.
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