Lingerie and Combat Boots

Dear List,
Thank you for being done.

Sincerely,
Lori


I wish that I could bottle the feeling you have when opening night is over and there were no major catastrophes and it went much better than you thought it would go. I wish I could bottle it and market it and make a hefty profit. Though I'm not entirely sure who I would sell such a potion to. The artists. The directors. The deranged.

I once said that if I were a doll (or a bell jar) the accessories that would come with me would be a piece of lingerie and combat boots. Of course, at the time, I was traveling down the thrilling road of infertility and it seemed that those pieces of clothing were a metaphorical necessity. It's just hit me that you really need a negligee and some combat boots when you do theatre. Symbolically speaking, of course, because if I really showed up to direct high schoolers in a nightie and military boots I think, and by that I mean I know, I'd be committed. But you need the boots to stomp all over the essentials; the technical, the "list" if you will. And the lingerie to get into the heart of the really vulnerable scenes, to rip open the script and consume the blood and the sweat and the tears and the laughter of every character. I really like wearing lingerie with combat boots. I'm glad my action figure comes complete with such essential items.

When I get to be an actor, I feel somehow at peace with the world around me. I love to take a character and dissect her until I know what makes her tick. I thought I would never love anything more. And then I had the opportunity to take an entire cast of characters and dissect them, and discover how they work together, and force them to explore the script and jive with one another. It is the vision realized that I am so enjoying. And it's really no wonder that my mother used to call me the cruise director. I thrive on crossing things off the list. I'm so thankful to God for the opportunity and the forum to take a swig from the bottle of opening night jitters. So thrilled to lace up the boots and slip into something a little more comfortable.