BUMPUSES!!!

Bubble Town is kicking my tail today.

I forgot to put up my picks for Saturday’s games. If I’d picked I think I would have been 2-3 (Yes, Alabama is one I would’ve got right…against the spread.) Which puts me at 5-8 for the season? Again, I’m glad I don’t gamble.

I did something yesterday that I have not done in many, many years. I auditioned for a play. Gingerbread Playhouse (a community theater company specializing in Children’s Theater) is putting on a production of A Christmas Story. Yes, that A Christmas Story.

My son and I both went to try out. It was fun but a little weird. I haven’t auditioned for anything in at least 16-17 years. And it’s only a couple years short of that since I’ve been on stage. I’m not counting church plays and such. Sorry, but those just don’t count. I was nervous as hell on the way there and when we got to the theater.

We filed in, got our numbers, and filled out or audition sheets. The sheet asked for theater experience. I was more than a little embarrassed that all of mine was pre-1993. As we sat there waiting for things to start I noticed something that made the situation even more surreal. I was the only adult there to audition. There were lots of other adults there, but they were strictly there as transportation. When the director called me up on stage, I told a friend (who was there as chauffeur to his son and daughter) that I felt like the creepy old man hanging around at the playground.

Once I got on stage it was all gone. The nervousness. The creepiness. Gone. I read for the dad, or The Old Man as the character is named. I told my son I want to be the guy that sells them their Christmas tree. It went pretty well. Eventually there was someone who read for the mother, so I wasn’t the only adult who read.

I got a callback last night. Which ordinarily would be exciting, but my son did not. And, of course, the fact that I was the only male adult who read makes the callback a little less of a big deal. They are having another night of tryouts tonight (along with callbacks). The director told my son he could come back if he wanted to read for a different role. He is going to do that. My daughter is going, too. We’re going to make a family event of it.

So, hopefully, there will be 3 Coats in Gingerbread Playhouse’s production of A Christmas Story! Go ahead and make your winter clothing jokes now.

Done?

Good. So, I guess I’ll say come see A Christmas Story at the Shoals Theater December 4-7! Unless none of us get parts, then skip it.