When I was in the seventh grade at OK School, I had an English teacher named Mrs. Wilbur. She was easily the most popular teacher in the school. She had a big personality and was extremely influential. I liked her. She taught us a lot but also challenged us to be as good as we could be. I won’t say that I was the teacher’s pet but I can’t quickly think of another term. It doesn’t matter. Here is what happened. She was in charge of the drama department. I don’t actually think that OK School had a Drama Department, but whatever was Drama related, Mrs. Wilbur was in charge of it. Each year the Drama group would put on a play. It turned out that Mrs. Wilbur, unbeknownst to me, had purchased a play called “Bertie Makes A Break”, written by Henry Gregor Felson. She decided, again, without even talking to me that I was going to be cast as Bertie. The day came for auditions for parts and I decided at the last minute to not be part of the play. I guess that went over like a ton of bricks. I was told by my classmates that Mrs. Wilbur was extremely upset and disappointed that I didn’t even try out. I ended up having a change of heart. Did audition and as Mrs. Wilbur had already decided I landed the lead. It was actually a lot of fun to do the play. I never thought I would be able to remember all the lines but there were people that helped with that. As it turned out the play was a success. There were no future plays for me. I don’t know maybe part of it was that I wanted to do other things, maybe it was because Bertie was a fat 15 year-old kid with all kinds of self-esteem problems and I didn’t really relate to Bertie. The only legitimate comparison is that we were both overweight. Mrs. Wilbur had type cast me as a fat teenager with all kinds of issues. It didn’t turn out to be a springboard for me as an actor. No regrets. I found out that I really enjoyed acting and being in front of an audience. I was a bit of a ham and that made things work for me. In the future I would have plenty of opportunities to “perform”, and speak publicly in front of large groups. I cannot think of anything, other than writing, that gives me more enjoyment.
Maybe I should rethink how much I liked Mrs. Wilbur. She was a great teacher but for her to put me into a play that made a point of my being overweight, and having all kinds of self-esteem issues. All that kind of sucks. I guess I didn’t realize until later that Bertie was a fat kid with low self-esteem. During the rehearsals and the performances I was just the kid with the most lines and most time on stage.
