New Season...New Play by Kristin Wallace

For the last year, I've been involved with a drama troupe at my church. We do dinner theatre. Last July was the first production, and in February we staged an old-fashioned, Western melodrama. We’re moving close to summer now, which means it’s time to start all over with a new play. 

For the past several weeks, we’ve been holding auditions. Every week, we get together to read through, switching off parts so everyone had a chance. This play happened to need 7 men, which can be tricky when it comes to casting. This is totally a volunteer operation, and it’s hard to find enough men who have time to commit to it. Plus, I’ve generally found that in any drama group, the women always outnumber the men by like 4 to 1.

Well, the final auditions were held 2 weeks ago and last Tuesday, the cast was announced…I DID get a part again!!! I was not sure I would be cast in this one. There were only 4 parts for women and 2 of them were much older. One was younger, but doable, and the fourth seemed ambiguous as far as age, but maybe leaning older than me. In the end, I got the more “ambiguously” aged part, lol. Her name is Beulah. If that doesn’t give you an idea of the timeframe of this play, the names of the older women are Maude & Myrtle. The play is called, How Does A Thing Like That Get Started. Basically, it’s about how a made-up rumor can morph into something much different. The director has decided to set the play in the 50s and in the South. So, think Mayberry and Andy Griffith if you’re old enough to know about that show. Everyone meets in the town park to discuss the news…and gossip…of course. Beulah is a busybody with a Chicken Little complex. She’s the town crier of gossip and is always ready to pronounce that a disaster has befallen the town.

Setting the play in the South means I have to don a Southern accent. I love doing accents, actually. They’re so much fun. A Southern accent is pretty easy. So easy that you often end up speaking that way long after you’ve stopped rehearsing.

One thing has become clear over the last 3 productions…

Last summer I played a woman who was hysterical over her missing cat (lots of crying and loud wailing), and then a diva opera singer (who likes to sing very loudly and very badly), and now a histrionic busybody who is also wails a lot…I’m beginning to think I might now be typecast playing loud, boisterous women. Anyone who knows me well would laugh at that description, as I’m usually very quiet.

I hope you’ll follow my personal blog for updates on how the play is going. This week, we begin blocking. No more sitting and just reading aloud. Now, we start moving around, figuring out where we should go on stage. Should be FUN!

Kristin Wallace is a USA Today Best Selling Author of inspirational and contemporary romance filled with “Love, Laughter and a Leap of Faith”. She is the author of two best selling series, Shellwater Key Tales (sweet contemporary romance) and Covington Falls Chronicles (inspirational romance). Book 3 in the Shellwater Key Tales, LAST STOP PARADISE, launched in April and is on sale now at...

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The Play's The Thing...by Kristin Wallace

Over the last several months, I’ve been involved in a play. My church now has dinner theatre and this was the second production (the first was last summer). We did an old fashioned, 1890s Western, melodrama. Lots of damsels in distress and some “very” bad puns, which were funny but produced many groans. The show finally premiered in February and ran for 3 nights. I played April May June, noted opera singer and hat connoisseur. I had big hair, got to sing (badly), and wore many outrageous hats. The experience was amazing. I have to say there is nothing quite like a live stage performance. You can hear the audience for one. You know right away if they got the joke. You can also tell when something went flat. It’s hard to describe the energy you feel, knowing people are watching. You feed off their energy in a way.

I was a theatre major in college, though I didn’t pursue acting after school. Years ago, my church had a drama troupe and we did all kinds of plays from Beauty and the Beast to Harvey and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. That group disbanded and until last summer I hadn’t been on stage in years. I’ve really enjoyed getting to use those old muscles…memorizing lines, developing a character, costumes, stage makeup, performing…

I hope I’ll get to do many more plays.

I chronicled much of the play’s progress on my blog. Please check those posts out so you can see my “behind-the-scenes” look at how a play comes together. 

Kristin Wallace is the USA Today Best Selling Author of inspirational and contemporary romance, and women’s fiction filled with “Love, Laughter and a Leap of Faith”. She is the author of two best

selling series, Shellwater Key Tales (sweet contemporary romance) and Covington Falls Chronicles (inspirational romance). Get ready for Book 3 in the Shellwater Key Tales, LAST STOP PARADISE. Pre-order now!

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For info on all of my books visit my website, Kristin Wallace Author

Drama Queen by Kristin Wallace

I was a drama (and band geek) growing up. I loved to act or sing. Most people who knew me as a child would probably not have pegged me as someone who would get up on stage in front of a bunch of strangers. I was extremely shy. For me walking into a room filled with people I didn’t know was akin to torture. But somehow putting words in my mouth, whether from a play or song, didn’t bother me. Maybe in some weird way having a character to “hide” behind made it seem like it wasn’t really me up there.

I remember distinctly the first time I auditioned for something. It was a church musical (which was set in the distant future of 2001, lol). I was probably 7 or 8. For the audition I had to sing a solo. When it was my turn everyone was very gentle with me. I guess maybe they were afraid I would freak out or faint or something, LOL. I said I was all right and started to sing. I’m pretty sure jaws dropped all around the room, because as it turned out I had a good voice. I was actually pretty surprised, too. I did get the part. I did plays and musicals throughout Junior and High and even majored in Theatre at Florida State University. I didn’t end up taking off for New York or Hollywood, but I still sing in my church choir and worship team and for a few years I was part of a Community Theatre Group. We did plays such as Beauty and the Beast, The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie and Harvey.

I still have such fond memories of being in all those shows. The rehearsals, hanging out with the other cast members, the live performances. There is nothing quite like that feeling of breathing life into words on paper. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that I would end up setting one of books around a play. In Acting Up, a disgraced Hollywood diva ends up directing a high school musical. It was such a fun concept, and I really enjoyed creating the characters who play the cast members of the fictional show. I even wrote some lyrics, which is harder than it seems, lol

So readers were any of you ever involved in plays or did you play an instrument? What are your favorite memories?

About Kristin Wallace

Kristin writes inspirational romance and women’s fiction filled with love, laughter and a leap of faith. When she’s not writing her next novel, Kristin works as an advertising copywriter. She also enjoys singing in her church choir and worship team and playing flute in a community orchestra. Kristin is the author of the Covington Falls Chronicles, the Amazon Best-Selling series set in a fictional Southern town filled with memorable, lively characters. Book one (MARRY ME) debuted in October 2013 and the second book (ACTING UP) releases April 22. Also look for book three (IMAGINE THAT) on July 1.

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