Theater Memories

• I was doing a production of "Whodunnit?" in high school and there was an assembly for the whole school to see a preview. I was playing a stiff secretary that bloomed into the femme fatale. There was a scene where the evil boss was backing me into a chair, and I was just supposed to sit at the end of the line. Well, I sat down to hard, and slowly felt the chair start to tip back. Time seemed to freeze. Being at an age where slipping or tripping was grounds for being an outcast, I remember thinking, "I'm never going to hear the end of this." And then, "Keep your legs sticking straight out, it will look funnier." This was a turning point.