(Disclaimer: I am writing this well away from any source - if such even exists - of my personal historical files. So any errors in dates should be attributed to that lack....)
Long ago...or seemingly so...during the Summer of celebrations surrounding the 200th anniversary of the birth of the United States of America, I stumbled upon an opportunity to perform in a pair of rep shows at the Zion Park District.
We performed on platforming set up along one side in the city ice rink. I recall how before performances, due to a lack of central air conditioning in the venue, they turned on the cooling coils beneath the bare cement floor. Without added water it did a fair job of cooling the space and became only slightly slippery due to condensation.
The shows being presented were Oklahoma and 1776.
I don't recall if my character for Oklahoma had a name (I doubt it, it was basically a chorus/ensemble part). But for 1776 I had a name: Judge James Wilson. Now it must be said that, circa 1976, there was no internet with Google and such to conduct production and/or character research on. It was all about going to the library. Yes, that building with all the books. And perhaps finding something of value in one of the encyclopedias there.
Well I admit, with learning lines, and lyrics, and choreography, and being a teenager I did basically zero research. Not proud of the fact, but true. No matter, the show went well and the costume which was fabricated for me by a family friend - this was, after all, a park district production, so any costumes had to be provided by the performers - went into my budding theatrical wardrobe.
Time passed. Though not so much. I was still young and living with my parents and we went on a family vacation, which included a stop in Philadelphia. And while we had visited Independence Hall on other family trips there, this time we took part in one of the guided presentations. And when it was nearing its end, the guide asked if there were questions. Being flush with my knowledge of Judge Wilson from my performance, I asked (as I recall) about him and where he would have sat, etc. The guide asked if I was a descendant. I replied no, I had played the role in a production of 1776. Well, apparently the guide had no use for that production, as they apparently presented it across from Independence Hall every Summer and the banging of the sliding vote tally board annoyed him. But not so much as the historical inaccuracy, including the authors portrayal of Judge Wilson who was, it seems, absolutely nothing like the character in the musical. He (the guide) then suggested that if I wanted to know more about the real James Wilson, that I should go down the street to the sites archives, since some of the Judges papers might be stored there. While a bit embarrassed, I was also enthralled by such a suggestion. So I asked my folks if we had time to stop there. My dad, being the person he was, was dubious that they would even let me in. But since I convinced him that all that they could do would be say no he let me go and check. When I got there there was only about an hour or so left in the day before they closed but the archivist/librarian, after hearing my explanation, said sure and let me check in the card catalog(s) to see if there holdings related to Judge Wilson being stored there. My dad, still a bit befuddled by the process, left me there and he and mom went off, with us planning to meet outside at closing time. The card catalog held one entry: the daily diary of Judge Wilson. So I requested it and, sure as the sunrise carved on the back of Benjamin Franklin's chair down the street, the archivist brought it out to me. A small (vest pocket sized) hard-covered book, bound in worn brown (almost Cordovan) leather. On opening it, I was surprised, as I had never heard the term 'diary' used to describe a persons schedule book/account ledger before. I had expected it to hold entries with recollections and such. Instead were notations about the times of meetings, and lists for the grocer, and other seemingly mundane things.
And it was a wonder. It made this person, who I had previously only known as a creature out of a musical theatre piece, so very real to me.
On a later vacation with my parents we visited New York City and that included a visit to the Statue of Liberty. It had been renovated as part of the bicentenary celebrations and there was a new (to us anyway) museum in the base which talked about how immigrants to the U.S. had impacted our culture. And included, representing Scotland, was James Wilson. Once again I was transfixed, listening to a recording of a voice actor speak as the Judge and tell how it was the standard of the time to memorize legal statutes and how, once he was here in America, he (and others) used this memorized knowledge to form the groundwork of the U.S. legal system. Once again, a person who was so very different than how I had portrayed him.
While I don't think that I realized it then...or admittedly even until much later...I attribute those as my first steps into the world of dramaturgy.
And the rest, if you will excuse the pun, is history.
More later.
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