An article I found online recently was responsible for an increase in the heartbeat of this old duffer.
It was a notice of the plays that will be appearing in The Evergreen Playhouse this year, and that's all it still takes to get my heart pumping again.
I have to be honest, though, and admit that when my heart seems to pump faster and stronger these days, the feeling is short-lived. I will always feel like an early member, though, because the playhouse and I had our starts in the local area at about the same time. I had arrived in the Twin Cities to begin a 12-year stint as a disc jockey and all-around radio announcer at KELA, and, at that same time, a play was presented in the banquet room of what was then the Lewis and Clark Hotel.
Eventually, I was promoted to the position of program director and I was able to join the members of the playhouse at the same time they (and I was then able to say "we") were considering the purchase of a building that had served many purposes, from being a doctor's office to most recently a church with old fashioned wooden pews.
Our group took a deep breath and said "OK" to the purchase. Selling the pews helped us get our conversion started, but it was a shaky start. A good example is the fact that there was no way to get from the makeup room upstairs to behind the stage without walking outside through the alley alongside the building.
Changes and additions were started and — one step at a time — it became the theater it is today. The first play on that stage was a standard tear-jerker of the day, and I played the father of a young bride who died shortly after becoming married. The second play was canceled because the person who was going to be the director of it insisted on being paid for his drive from Olympia to Centralia for rehearsals. I suggested that we fill in by having a "reader's theater" where actors read their favorite short pieces and everybody said, "Great idea. You'll be in charge!"
That led to my reading from a short piece by Mark Twain, which began another career for yours truly. That career ended with two evenings of a performance on the stage of Centralia College as a fundraiser for the building of the new Chehalis Library.
But getting back to the present time, whenever I think of the Evergreen Playhouse I have an urge to try out for whatever play will be the next one, and — for a few moments — forget that my memory is as old as I am and therefore has seen better days.
During the last two times I appeared on the stage, I had only six lines to remember in one of them and absolutely no dialogue at all in the last one, although I must confess that I was pleased when some people thought it was their favorite part.
But now It's time to accept the inevitable and admit to myself that my days of appearing under the stage lights are over, but there are others who can and will keep the spirit alive.
Oh, I was given the favorite part of one of my favorite plays, that of the angel in the play "It's a Wonderful Life" who has been given one more attempt to earn his wings, but I decided that since I was well over 90 years old, I just wouldn't look the part.
Besides, I would be more prone to miss a cue or forget a line. Meanwhile, I have these columns to either amuse you or just plain amuse myself.
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Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.
