The very first time I got involved in a community theater was a the age of 18, not even graduated from high school. There was an ad in the newspaper for a costumer for a community theater, a PAYING job! I called, went for an interview, and imagine this, they HIRED me!

I was 18, young, naive, and boy did they see me coming. They offered me $500.00 for four shows which took me from April through August, and the final show closed after I had left for college. Now $500.00 in 1979 looked like a lot of money, and I was not new to working on shows, I had done it for three years of high school, and I had been sewing since I was 10, so I figured, no problem.

I ate, slept and breathed costumes from April until the day I left for school. I costumed four full-scale Broadway musicals (all this group did was musicals) with the help of my mom, grandmother, friends, cousins, generally ANYBODY with a sewing machine or a needle and thread. I ran my butt off all summer, and loved every minute of it. I met interesting people, and became far less introverted. I gained self-confidence, and began to build a portfolio and a dream.

Fast-forward to the end of my first college semester, NOW I REALLY had the theater bug, I changed majors and transferred schools. I finished a four year degree in three and aa half years, and did an internship in the costume shop at an Ivy league school.

I have not persued theater from a professional standpoint mainly because I chose not to try to follow the circuit across the country, from Santa Fe to Martha's Vineyard and other parts in-between. What I have done over the years is to return to those community theater roots on and off. I had a long-running "career" with one local group costuming about four shows a year, as well as some set design and scenic painting.

I have learned how to deal with the good, the bad, and the ugly of the people in this world. My theater life has been a great gift for me in relation to how I handle the world. One of the greatest challenges is to costume your best friend, convince her that whe looks WONDERFUL, and that it is a cotume, not a reflection of her personal style.

I have developed the ability to tease and cajole the crankiest of people into things they would not do if asked outright. Egos are fragile things, and there are none quite so fragile as an actor's ego. As a life-lesson, or a learning arena for life's lessons, I highly recommend the Theatre. If you need to feel at home, you most likey will feel that way once you are involved.

I am as comfortable in a theater seat as I am on my own couch. I found my home as a young woman in those huge rooms that echo thousands of years of history. It has been my first great love, and will probabaly always be that way. It can be addicting, annoying, overwhelming, and always very rewarding.

Want to find out what you are made of? Forget the Army"s "be all you can be", join a community theater group; you just might find out you like it. Pick up a paintbrush, help sign people up for auditions, read scripts, hang posters, sew buttons, act (if you must), sing, dance, assist the director, work as an usher (hey you just might get to see the show for free!)

Some of the BEST performances and performers are NOT on Broadway or in Hollywood, they are right down the road at your local community theater. There is far more talent in this world than there are paying jobs for the talented. For many people it would not be as much fun, or nearly as rewarding, if they got paid. The applause is what we all want to hear.

Learn more about this author, Deborah Cutter.
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