The Imagination Blog

Involvement in community theater is something that has been on the periphery of my desires for many years, but one that I neglected to pursue until about eight years ago with my first appearance with Hershey Area Playhouse in Bye Bye Birdie.  I’ve since performed in a number of productions with The Playhouse, Theatre Harrisburg and Lebanon Community Theater.  I’m currently in rehearsal with The Playhouse in a production entitled The Boys Next Door.  The story centers around four developmentally challenged men who live in a care center and their rapidly burning out overseer.  My role in this particular vehicle is a minor one, that of a state senator heading a subcommittee whose purpose it is to determine whether continuing social security benefits for one of the residents is warranted.  The process of pursuing a role, auditioning, rehearsing, and performing is in my opinion in many ways a microcosm of the total life experience.  It contains the elements of desire, preparation, rejection, acceptance, adulation, enlightenment, competition, frustration, pressure, community and satisfaction.  Everyone desires to have a leading role, of course, and it has been my good fortune to experience that on several occasions.  Talent aside, there are factors that limit one’s suitability for particular roles, such as age, gender, physique, appropriate pairing with other actors, etc.  In every case, bringing a production from the first read through, hundreds of hours of rehearsal, opening night and the final performance has been very positive for me, regardless of what role I am assigned.  I am particularly thrilled to have a small part in this production.  

The Boys Next Door is a play that touches me in a personal way, as I feel it will anyone who has had occasion to interact with anyone who is developmentally challenged.  In my case, I had a second cousin, now deceased, who developed normally until the age of four or five years when an illness and subsequent high fever halted his intellectual growth.  He was drafted during WWII and the army kept him for about 90 days or whatever length of time it took for them to determine that he was just not capable of military service.  Although I’m sure the experience was frightening for him, it turned out to his benefit as he was given veterans’ preference in hiring for a civil service job at the now defunct Olmstead Air Force Base.  When asked what he did for a living, he would proudly respond, “I am an unskilled laborer.”  His secure employment resulted in a marriage to an opportunistic woman who took command of his life and his paycheck.  She died young and he lived with his mother until her death.  After his retirement, he came to work for me in my antique business.  My mother became his overseer at that point and I provided a place for him to live in one of my properties.  Interacting with Mac on a daily basis frequently brought to mind the well known phrase, “There but for the grace of God……..”My wife, Lois, and I participate in a ministry for developmentally challenged adults in our church.  I see them in the very talented cast of The Boys Next Door.  I hope that you will choose to join us as we present this magnificently written story.

Harry Menear