Tonight I made my cameo appearance in West Side Story. It was the show's closing night and by all accounts it was the best audience of the five performances. I spent the couple hours before the curtain mentally rehearsing lines: mine wasn't a big part, but screwing up my delivery would throw off my fellow actors (virtually the whole cast was on stage when I was). I had rehearsed the part twice with script in hand--most recently at the pick-up dress rehearsal on Wednesday--and could have cheated a bit by having my lines on a clipboard prop, but I was determined to perform without a crutch. Walking to center stage for my scene, I instantly got a round of applause (undeserved, of course) which made me feel like Jackie Gleason whenever he first appeared as Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners. I managed to get through my lines without error and even got a pretty big laugh for a visual gag I threw in, so I guess it was a success.
I certainly had a lot of fun doing this show (my cameo in No, No Nanette two years ago was a much more limited one). The whole process of rehearsing and performing was very nostalgic for me, since participating in school theatrical productions was a big part of my teenage years.