vi PLAYING JULIET I shivered as I walked into the theater Why did those lines keep coming back to me The lobby looked perfectly normal for six o’clock on a rainy Friday night A trail of wet footprints led across the red tile floor I followed their damp path took a program for Cinderella from the tottering stack on top of the ticket stand opened it to the third page and ran my finger slowly down the cast list The actors and the roles they play were listed in order of appearance I found my name about a quarter of the way down CAT BETH SONDQUIST My biggest part yet Twenty-eight lines and a solo Suddenly I felt fine And I knew why those gloomy lines from Shakespeare had popped into my head just part of my usual opening night jitters Cinderella is my twelfth play Not bad for someone who’s twelve-and-a-half One of these days I might even be able to call myself an actor I put the program in my backpack and glanced around casually to make sure no one else was in the lobby Then I walked over to the back wall where a photograph was hanging slightly crooked against the redwood paneling I straightened it and looked around one more time The only people in sight were the teenage couple in the picture holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes
JOANNE STEWART WETZEL vii They’d been staring like that for almost fifty years A brass sign on the frame read ROMEO AND JULIET FIRST PLAY OAKFIELD CHILDREN’S THEATER I touched the last word in the first line Someday I whispered and headed for the dressing room
ChaPterone Pins and poking-sticks of steel What maids lack from head to heel Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale This place is crawling with mice whispered the back of the Horse I smiled in the darkness Both the front and back of the Horse six little Mice and I were all squeezed together in the left wing of the stage waiting for our entrance The stage manager said Cue one go softly into his headset The audience lights dimmed as the opening music to Cinderella began The back of the Horse bent over and gripped the waist of the front of the Horse Since only the front of the Horse gets to speak they switch places for every performance The tallest Mouse adjusted the saddle
