My Best Lives Lived
Theatre is in my soul. I have not known a single day in my life without my absolute love for the business that is show. The story my mom always told me in order to explain my deep adoration of it all is, when I was two years old, my parents had tickets to “The King and I” at a local performance center. They searched high and low for a babysitter to be home with me while they went out for a night on the town. Unfortunately, there was no one to be found. They were left with a dilemma…either give up their tickets, only one of them go or, the last and very unappealing option, take me with them. I guess my parents were willing to take a big risk because they chose the final option. They dressed me in my Sunday best and took me along thinking that I would surely fall asleep at some point during the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. How wrong they were. Now, I am not sure if it was the fact that there were children on stage during the show or if it was just something that awakened within me but tiny two-year-old me sat on that chair with absolute rapt attention for the entire duration of the three-hour show. I can just picture it, little Heather dressed to the nines in ruffles and ribbons, long past her bedtime, with her little patent clad feet sticking out right in front of her on the seat, completely entranced. I love that picture. It lives in my head and whenever the joy of doing theatre is waning, I think of her and how much she would have loved to watch me. And all the little girls watching me feeling that same magic.
Since falling in love with theatre all those years ago, I made it my life goal to never be without it. The amount of shows I have done since then must be close to the triple digits at this point. Each and every one, with some very few and far between exceptions, have held special places in my heart. If you were to name one of the shows, I have been able to participate in, I could probably share at least five anecdotes about the fun we had both onstage and off. There is something wonderful to be found in every process, there is no doubt. And yet, there are those that rise far above the rest. There are those that have such fortuitous magic, the material, and the people, and the place, and just about each element. Everything comes together to make the most beautiful of experiences. There may be many shows that are lovely but, I can count on one hand those that are truly special. These are my top four. (That’s right, only four, I am leaving room for the fifth perfect one yet to come.)
If we are going chronologically, the first of this list is “Camelot” at Spreckles Theatre in Rohnert Park, CA. I have always loved truly epic tales, ancient romances and questing journeys and this story is the most excellent example of this. But not only that. The most famous song from this show “If Ever I Would Leave You” was one that my sweet daddy sang puttering around the house. In fact, whenever I think of the song, it is sung not in the famous tones of Robert Goulet but Derek Lane, my dad. That sparked a fire in my heart for this show and in the second time around (I played Nimue the first time) I was able to do the most perfect production of it. After my mom passed away, I withdrew from theatre, from everything really. And then an embarrassment of riches was bestowed upon me in the form of “Jekyll and Hyde, the musical” and then, from that I was given the gift of Guenevere. Alongside her, I experienced the best of leading me, the most beautiful, elaborate castle for her to live in the the strongest of guidance in one of the directors who had been my favorite. The trust that was placed in me to bring this beautiful, tragic heroine to reality afforded me a beautiful and unforgettable life to live in. I adored her so much.
The next was Maria in “The Sound of Music” in the Mountain Play’s 100th anniversary production. The Mountain Play was a singular experience. On a whim, I had auditioned for “Man of La Mancha” years prior and was cast. The Mountain Play is a Marin County standard. High upon Mount Tam, the peak that watches over Mill Valley, CA, there is an open-air stone amphitheater. The rows are blocks built into the side of the mountain letting over 4,000 seats to overlook the stage that is built every year on the plain grass at the bottom. This place is special, sacred really. In all my years of theatre I have never performed in a place that was as beautiful and singular as this. After my summer in “Man of La Mancha” I continued to audition for them, hoping to finally land a lead role but never being quite successful. Until “The Sound of Music”. I showed up for auditions again and spectacularly showed what I was capable of. Days later, I answered the phone to a call from Eileen Grady, and she told me that she was so, so happy to tell me that Maria was mine. The dream I had of a ROLE on the mountain was fulfilled. I sang every note with joy and gratitude, and none was more special than singing “The hills are alive with the sound of music” on a literal mountain. It was a joy. With my hopes and dreams and joys of this musical and because of this Mount Tam will always remain “my mountain”.
Just after the run of “The Sound of Music” Trav and I discovered that I was pregnant with our first son, Atticus. Oh, the irony of playing a nun while pregnant. After he was born, life screeched to halt. I had an idea of what motherhood would be and my sweet boy turned that on its head. There was barely time to keep myself together as a human, let alone a mother. It took me nearly a year to be able to even consider coming back. And then came “Bonnie and Clyde”. I knew very little about this musical when it was announced but during the sleepless nights up with my baby, I did hours of research, watching videos and reading about it. When auditions rolled around, I knew I wanted to be there. I was called back after my initial audition, and it was at the callbacks that the chemistry and kinship that I had no idea would appear was revealed. As Taylor and I sang “You Love Who You Love”, it was obvious that we were supposed to play these parts together. I was cast and the was the beginning of an exceptional friendship. Making friends as an adult, especially for introverts, is difficult to say the least but this was as easy as could be. We just clicked. And we got to do some serious and exceptional acting to boot. “Bonnie and Clyde” not only allowed me to sing exceptional songs and do some of the best acting of my career, but I also met one of my best friends, found my true California theatre home, and I got to share the stage with my mother-in-law to boot!
The final of the four is not a musical. I know that is unexpected. It was unexpected to me as well. I didn’t even intend to audition for this play. One of my jobs while I worked as Lucky Penny was Assistant Casting Director. In that capacity there were many tasks and one of them was as the reader for callbacks. A reader is the person at a call back who reads the chosen portions of the script that allows the auditors to see the scope of the auditioner’s talent. I was reading for Elizabeth Proctor at our callbacks for “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. The director turned to me and asked me why the heck I wasn’t actually auditioning for the show. What a vote of confidence. Exactly the one I needed. In the end, even though I hadn’t officially auditioned, I was cast as Elizabeth and was allowed to do some of the best acting I had ever done without relying on my voice. The actor cast as John Proctor and I had such a good relationship and such excellent on-stage chemistry, it made telling this story completely natural. Even though it is a tale of the Salem Witch Trials and there was nothing in my daily life that even touched gravity of the material that we were working with. I came home every night after living in Elizabeth Proctor’s skin feeling like a wrung-out dishrag and it was such a triumph.
I have had the pleasure to live in the lives of many, many different characters from a magical nanny in Mary Poppins, to a WWII navy nurse stationed in the South Pacific, to a nineties B-Movie horror queen, to both Dashwood sisters in Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility”. I am so lucky. Each life I have lived has added richness and exploration to the life I live on a daily basis. I have traveled the world without leaving my home. And for that I am truly grateful. But nine make me more grateful for these four shows and roles. I could write volumes each of them, but I hope that these little snap shots have helped to share to joy that theatre can truly be.