I had no idea that a little over a month ago when I threw ramen noodles, instant oatmeal, and old Beanie Babies from the back of my Jeep in the Fort Payne Christmas parade, that I was accidentally auditioning for the upcoming annual Children’s Advocacy Center “dinner and a show” play.

As we slowly rode past what seemed to be the majority of the population of the town in the parade, I was doing my best to shout out anyone’s name I knew, as I sported my ugly Christmas sweater… not giving much thought to how theatrical of a spectacle I was making of myself.

Just a couple days after the parade, I was recruited to be in the play.

Not a coincidence. That was my audition.

Acting was a huge part of my childhood and my connection with the town of Fort Payne. From 3rd grade until my Senior year of high school, I was regularly performing in plays and musicals; whether they were through the local community theater group, or a church, or the school.

Specifically, I am what is referred to as a “character actor”… not the lead. I naturally transform into any version of a character that needs to show up for comic relief. That has always been my speciality.

It is no different for the upcoming “Jukebox Diner”, in which I play two different characters like this:

-An overeager romantic who is on the search for his 4th wife, having just finished a brief stint in prison.

-A grumpy old man who is well-informed of what’s going on in town, thanks to regularly monitoring everyone’s posts on “the Facebook”.

I love the challenge of playing two completely different characters, each with their own personalities and accents, showing up on stage just minutes apart from each other.

Now that I think about it, I haven’t actually been in a play since my senior year of high school, in 1999. So… I haven’t officially acted on a stage in nearly 27 years! But for me, it’s simply second nature to me to do theater again.

We’ve now made it through our first couple of weeks of practice and it is really starting to get fun. Opening night is coming up soon!

Show dates: February 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13 and 14.

To reserve your tickets, call the Children’s Advocacy Center at 256-997-9700.