The year I turned 17 I was a Junior in High School. I think these last two years were my best years of school.
Changes were coming to Cedar City and our family. A new High School was under construction on the south side of town. My sister had just gotten married. My older brother was in College and getting ready to go on a mission. Fred Adams The founder of The Utah Shakespearean Festival, had already had one summer of Shakespeare. The College had changed their name from Branch Agricultural College to College of Southern Utah. They were now a four year school and could award Bachelors Degrees.
I was in the High School Concert Choir and I had one of the lead roles in the school play, ‘George Washington Slept Here’. This play had been made into a Movie in 1942 starring Jack Benny and Ann Sheridan. The part I had was essentially the part that Jack Benny played. They reversed the roles for the movie. We also did the musical “Oklahoma” I played the part of Aunt Eller. In the play there are some solo parts that Aunt Eller has to sing. I was not confident enough to sing those parts in-tune. The director finally told me to just speak the lines in time to the music. That seemed to work and we got through the songs.
Even though I was involved in many of the extra curricular activities I still felt like I really was not one of the “popular” kids. I did not get invited to dances or parties. I helped decorate for the Junior Prom but was not invited to go to the dance.
As summer approached Fred Adams was a member of our ward and he told me one day that I should try out for the Shakespeare plays. So I did, and he cast me as a hand maiden to Cleopatra in the play “Anthony and Cleopatra”. He cast a local woman to play the role of Cleopatra, she was a native American. She was a beautiful woman and it seemed like she could be a wonderful Cleopatra. The problem was she couldn’t remember her lines and she was always late for rehearsals or didn’t show up at all. Finally about two weeks before opening night he recast another actress. We had a bunch of extra rehearsals and it was do or die. The show must go on.
At that point in time the Shakespeare Festival was only four weeks. There were three plays on a rotating basis. The out door stage was constructed each year. A stage was also set up in the Auditorium in case of rain. In addition to Anthony and Cleopatra I had a walk on part as part of a crowd in one of the other plays. I also was part of the pre-show activities on the nights Cleopatra wasn’t playing. I sang with the madrigal singers and sold candy and tarts. It was a wonderful experience. One of the actresses that summer was Carol Lynn Pearson who later became noted for a few poetry books she authored. In later years when I moved to Provo as a single mother she was the Relief Society President of my ward.
The school year of 1963 – 1964 was about ready to start. I had been accepted into the High School Pep Club. I felt like I was finally in the “in crowd”. I was still in the Concert Choir and we tried to start a Thespians club.
November 22, 1963, I was at the College for a Choir workshop. We had just dismissed for lunch and I was exiting the building when I saw some of the kids I had worked with in Festival. I stopped to say Hi they looked upset,
“Whats the matter?”
“President Kennedy has been shot.”
I was in shock. I was not a fan of President Kennedy but I knew this was not a good thing. They told me that they had actually met him at the White House the year before when they went back east with the Drama Club. They were very sad. I headed for home. My Dad and Aunt Inez were on their way home for lunch and stopped and picked me up. They had the car radio on. Just then the announcer said that it was confirmed that President Kennedy was dead. We were silent. Nothing to say. We ate lunch in front of the TV. I went back to the College. I didn’t know what else to do. Our director said that we should just continue with our schedule. The rest of the afternoon is just a blur. Then it was the Thanksgiving Holiday. We went back to school on Monday and everyone was solemn. The day of the funeral, school was dismissed. We were glued to our TV sets. A few weeks later the school held a memorial service. The choir sang a Carl Sandburg poem, “Oh Captain, My Captain,” I don’t remember the rest of the program.
When we went back to school at the first of the new year 1964 we entered our new High School. Everything was brand new. We had a wonderful new building, a new choir room, an Auditorium with a lighting and sound system and room back stage for dressing rooms, and prop work rooms and all the classes were under the same roof. No more having to walk from the High School Building to the Jr. High Building for Choir or to the Auditorium. We had our own basketball court, no more having to play our games at the college. As the second half of the school year started plans were made to put on a new musical. We decided to do “Brigadoon” I was in the chorus and worked on making the props.
In the spring the school district sponsored a speech and story telling contest. The year before I had entered and received a superior rating at the district level. I entered again and this time I received another superior rating and an invitation to go to the state contest. No one else from our school was going and my teacher told me I could go if I could get someone to take me. I talked my Dad into taking me to Provo to BYU. I had no idea of what to expect. I was alone, my Dad just dropped me off and left me for the day. I managed to find my way around and at the awards ceremony I got an honorable mention. I was kind of disappointed. I guess out of the whole state that was pretty good. I can’t help but think that if my teacher had taken more of an interest and encouraged me and helped me to understand just what was expected I would have done better.
The year was winding down we were all anxious to get graduation over with and get on with our lives. Once again Fred Adams wanted me to try out for the Shakespeare Festival. He cast me as Helena in “A Midsummer’s Night Dream.”
I was finally out of High School, one of my sisters was married and had a new baby, my older Brother was on a mission in Australia, my oldest Sister was at Utah State University in Logan, my younger Brother would start High School in the fall. Festival was scheduled to run one more week longer that summer.
That is another story for another day.