Trying out a new indoor sport, no equipment necessary
May 16, 2008
by Sam Fuhrer
As far as I was concerned, Greeley theater and the people involved with the Greeley theater were a whole different civilization.
If it weren’t for the flyers posted on the bathrooms and the annoying kids that would beg me to buy a ticket to the play when I walked by the library, I don’t think I would have even known it existed. I had been so focused on my athletic commitments for most of high school that the thought of even going to a Greeley play seemed almost comical to me.
This all changed in mid-December during my American Currents English class. I had been enjoying the class recently because the teacher had picked Ken Kesey’s novel, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” for the class to read. I had seen the movie when I was in eighth grade and it instantly became my all-time favorite, mostly because of Jack Nicolson’s role as the crude sociopath, R.P. McMurphy.
One day, before we started the class discussion, a boy that I hadn’t paid much attention to said to the teacher, “The callbacks for “Cuckoo’s Nest” are today.” I had no idea what callbacks were, and didn’t focus on the comment until I heard the teacher reply, “Wow, that’s wonderful, you guys are performing “Cuckoo’s Nest” in March. I am definitely going to come see that.” My head lit up when I heard that, and I immediately went over to the boy, Danny Kane, and started pestering him with questions. I told him that I had to be the lead in that play and that I was obsessed with McMurphy. He explained to me how callbacks weren’t exactly tryouts; they were for people who had been called back to try out again, but all that just went through one ear and out the other. He told me he’d talk to Schrauf, the director, and see if he’d let me read the monologue.
At the end of the day when I met Kane at the theater, he told me he had spoken to Schrauf and that he’d give me a chance. As soon as I found that out, my heart started to pound. I was getting the realization that I actually had never acted before, and in a few minutes I’d be going all out in front of a bunch of experienced actors and a brilliant director and to show them my first audition. I looked at myself in the mirror of the green room and saw a 6’1’, 185 pound wide receiver and small forward in a backwards hat and a varsity football jacket, and began thinking, “Maybe I don’t belong here…” But then I saw the part I was going to be reading. It was a scene I was very familiar with, between McMurphy and the doctor. I looked at myself back in the mirror and gave myself the old “McMurphy grin” and told myself to just go out there and do it.
Pretty soon I was out in front of about 30 people reading the script. I found a way to convince myself I was the psychopathic devil McMurphy, just for the short period of time, and worked hard at giving it my best impression. When I was done I saw an impressed look on Schrauf’s face, one that said, “I did not expect this kid to have talent.” He told me it was terrific and asked if I had any conflicts. I told him I was on the basketball team and we practiced every day from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. He told me that would be a little bit of a conflict, considering rehearsal was every day from 3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
For the next couple of days, I was having people I had never seen before come up to me and compliment me on my audition. Each time I asked them if they were just saying that, or if they thought I had real talent. They all told me they thought I had talent. Well, maybe they were just saying that, but I like to believe they actually thought I had talent. I also like to think that the reason I didn’t get a part in the play was because I was on the basketball team, but the fact that I thought I impressed Schrauf, and had been getting compliments from people I didn’t know, had gotten my confidence up, and I found myself looking forward to the next tryouts that were in a couple of months. Of course it was just my luck that a week after the audition I broke my ankle and would be out for the rest of the basketball season.
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was the first Greeley theater production I had ever seen, and to my surprise, I could not have been more amazed. If I had any doubt that I wanted to try being an actor, it was lost after I saw that show. I only was questioning whether I’d be able to memorize all the lines and cues. After seeing Evan Judson’s performance as McMurphy, I realized he did a much better job than I could have done, and I asked him to give me as much advice as he could. He gladly agreed and started working with me privately, helping me show my emotions and make myself believable. We practiced the audition piece together for the spring show, “The Odd Couple,” over and over again, and traded off between Oscar and Felix. By the time the auditions came around I practically had both parts memorized, and what I thought was a very good Walter Matthau impression down pat.
I tried out as Oscar, and once again I got positive feedback, and this time, formally got a callback. However, at the callback I found out they weren’t interested in me for one of the leads, but more for one of the poker players. I was a little bit disappointed at first, but after I took a quick glance at the script I noticed that the whole play is basically Oscar and Felix talking and thought it would be a nightmare to memorize all that, at least for my first show. The callbacks were extremely fun, and I made the play as Murray the cop, one of the poker players.
The first few rehearsals were very laid back, and we just read through the script and got familiar with it. I didn’t feel as much of a beginner as I could have because there were two other rookies in the cast. One was my friend Pete Gonzales, who I convinced to try out with me at the last minute, and the other was a sophomore, Matt Krackauer. We all fit right in, and there were no instances of one of us slowing down the play.
Ted Caywood played Oscar and Matt Haas played Felix. I had been blown away by Ted’s performance in “Cuckoo’s Nest” as Harding. He’d completely stolen the show for me, and I almost felt star struck the first time I was on stage with him. Watching him interact with Matt on stage really taught me a lot about timing. I was able to pick up lots of little things from them, and I felt safe knowing that if I messed up one of them would be able to pick me right up.
Aside from the athletic glory and satisfaction from winning, one of the reasons I played sports all my life was because of the relationships and experiences I shared with my teammates. I played basketball and football with the same guys from 6th grade to 11th grade and I feel like each member on the team is like a brother to me because we all went through the same things, and no one will ever be able to take that away from us. Whether it’s winning the championship or getting screamed at by the coach, your teammates are there doing it with you, and at the end of the day they’re family.
I was surprised at my emotion minutes before the first performance. The whole cast and crew was back stage saying our final thank yous and good lucks before we went on and I got a familiar warm feeling. I was looking around at everyone, and most people there I had just met two months ago at the first rehearsal, but I felt like I had known them for years. I realized the cast and crew was as strong a bond as any sports team I had ever been on. It was a terrific feeling being part of it, and I wondered why I hadn’t been doing this for years.
Luckily the play was fantastic, and being on stage was as rewarding as any touchdown or basket I had ever scored. I truly found a new love and passion of mine that I am definitely going to continue. It was a great experience.
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