Acting Out in High School

In high school, I wasn’t a sports guy. Sure, I was on the wrestling team, but I never did well. In any case, the prestigious sports at my school were football and basketball. But I was in drama, with lead roles in musicals and comedies. In the high school caste system of the time, this was a mid-position. I was placed below the jocks and cheerleaders but above the stoners and AV geeks.

I did enjoy doing those shows, but there were challenges to putting on a show at the time that no longer exist. We put on the Woody Allen comedy, Don’t Drink the Water. In the play, a character absentmindedly sings the Gershwin song, “A Foggy Day.” The actor didn’t know the tune; none of us really knew the tune. So how could we find it? In 1978.

We went to the library and a record store to see if we could find a record with the song. I think we eventually found a music store that sold us the sheet music so someone could plunk it out on the piano.

I played Ambassador Magee in Don’t Drink the Water. I believe my opening line was supposed to be “J—- C—--! Look at all those protestors!” But I didn’t want to use the Lord’s name in vain, so I was allowed to change the line to “D—-! Look at all those protesters!”

The next year, we did a production of Stage Door. The play takes place in a women’s boarding house in New York City, and at various points characters are looking at the New York Times. Fortunately, a local newsstand, Sawyer's, received the Sunday Times every week. You could get the Sunday paper at the Santa Rosa location on Monday.

I had the lead male role in Stage Door, David Kingsley, the big-time producer and director. At one point in the play, I was supposed to kiss the leading lady, actress Terry Randall, but during the dress rehearsal, the kiss was so awkward that the director said, “We can do a hug instead of a kiss.”

Times were different, right? And usually, politics weren’t a part of our productions.

It’s rather amazing to consider that in 1978, the Briggs Initiative, Proposition 6, received 41.57% of the vote. That’s a long way from passing, but still…

If you don’t remember it, this legislation would have restricted gays and lesbians from working in California’s public schools. It wasn’t just politicians like Harvey Milk who opposed the law, but also President Jimmy Carter and a former California Governor, Ronald Reagan.

It was a really bad idea. Many of us are appalled by the way teachers these days share information about their sex lives with students – there is much to be said for students knowing absolutely nothing about the private lives of their teachers, and this law would have made it the business of the state to investigate such things.

I do think it should be noted that I did make a stand, sort of, in support of Prop. 6. In retrospect, it was not a consequential stand.

At the time, I did know my teacher’s sexual orientation. I had met his wife. There were rumors of other things that I probably shouldn’t get into, but all the rumors indicated he was straight. Nevertheless, he was quite upset about Prop. 6.

So, he decided to stage a production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Just as Miller had written the play as an allegory for McCarthyism, my teacher thought it could stand as an allegory for Briggsism.

I read the play. I really liked it. I know it’s a quite fictionalized account of the Salem Witch Trials. High school me wouldn’t admit it, but I teared up reading about John Proctor’s sacrifice. In other circumstances, I would have loved to have been part of the play.

But I was uncomfortable with being a part of opposition to a bill that I thought, at the time, might be right.

So, I went to my teacher and told him I wouldn’t be auditioning for the play. Understand, we didn’t have an abundance of guys in the drama program. And in all lack of modesty, I will say that there were fewer tall, attractive-ish guys in the program.

The day after I talked to our teacher, he announced we wouldn’t be doing the play, and the reason he gave was the lack of actors for the men’s parts.

(I probably should explain that back in the day, it was assumed people could distinguish between males and females. And that males should play male roles and females should play the female parts. It wasn’t Shakespeare.)

From today’s perspective, I probably would have taken a role in the play. Later in life I would happily take the lead role of Proctor. But I’m glad that I did what I believed to be the right thing at that time and place.

Do any of you look back on moral stands you took in your youth that look different with the perspective of age?