Good Memory

Tonight I was reminded of a good memory and thought I'd share (or remind). I let each kid choose a book for us to read, so we read three stories, one of which was The Little Mermaid. Now, I was reminded of how much I enjoy this movie last night during my rant, but for some reason, tonight I was reminded of a person I met while we were at school in Colorado.

I had been cast in my first lead role. I was ecstatic! It was a play called Good Night, Desdemona Good Morning, Juliet and was about a mousy little assistant professor who was pulled into the worlds of Romeo and Juliet and Othello. She meets all the main characters, Juliet and Desdemona both teach her how to become a stronger woman (and in turn become stronger women themselves and don't die--always a good thing) and in the end tells the jerk senior profesor that tries to use her to go jump in a lake. It was a fun, silly play that captured a great point and was a blast to be apart of. Our final dress rehearsal was opened to the public because it had been sold out so quickly. A rumor suddenly began flying that a former Disney animator was going to be in the audience and that he worked on The Little Mermaid. I was soooo nervous. This was only my second appearance on stage at Adams State, it was my first lead with lots of monologues directed to the audience, and now some dude from Disney was going to be in the audience. This final rehearsal was more like our opening night with the number of audience members we performed for and I soon learned who this guy was. I knew his name was Dave, but I didn't know his last name for quite a while, so I just referred to him as "Dave the Disney Dude." Disney Dude, later known to me as Dave Woodman, somehow enjoyed this show and my performance. He enjoyed it so much that he put himself on the waiting list and attended all five subsequent performances. And then, something really cool happened. He learned my name. Dave the Disney Dude knew who I was and a few years later was even surprised when I knew his name. If you look at the final credits during The Little Mermaid, you'll see him listed as one of the in-between artists. It always feels so good to have your efforts and talents recognized, and it always feels so good to have them recognized by someone you recognize as talented.

Good times.

P.S. To see some of Dave's work, go to http://www.davewoodmanart.com/sculpture.html?voltar=4