By this time, I was in High School. I went to Overland High School in Aurora, CO. I was in the first graduating class. I had no idea what High School was about, I was shy and somewhat of a loaner that got along with both the Freaks and Jocks equally.
One day after Football Practice, I was waiting for my Mom to come get me. I was walking around the school and saw the Auditorium. I had never been in the Auditorium before, but I was well versed and comfortable in them. the door was open, I walked in and plopped down in an Auditorium chair. I knew the Drama Director, John Kron, as he was my English teacher in Middle school.
John ended up being very influential in my life and single-handedly was the best teacher I ever had. He wasn’t a normal teacher. Although I am sure there were lesson plans, often he would toss those plans aside to discuss relevant topics such as the new movie STAR WARS. For the next few days, after Football Practice, I would go to the Theatre, sit in the back and watch as John was building the sets for a play called “The Death and Life of Sneaky Fitch.”
After a few days, Mr Kron asked me for some help. On one of the set pieces, they had saloon doors, the kind that you would see in an old western movie that would swing back and forth when someone walked through them. However, these doors were made out of 1/4″ plywood, painted to look real, but they just would not swing correctly. My task was to get them to swing the right way.
I looked over the doors and noticed first thing is that they needed some way for them to swing back into place. Looking around the stage I found some rubber bands, that would do the trick, but how do I attach them to the door? I looked around more and found a stapler. Now I needed to keep them from swinging too far, so I found some blocks of wood. Finally the swinging doors would work, right? WRONG. They would swing shut and stay there, but they needed to swing back and forth a bit. I contemplated this for a long time, but the answer was literally under my nose. I finally remembered that one of the properties of chewing gum was that when it was old, it was somewhat bouncy, but not bouncy like a rubber ball. I took the gum out of my mouth, waited for it to dry out a bit and stuck it on the doors in the right place. Finally the doors swung the way they should.
One day we were setting up for a concert and brought out all of the band shells. The band shells stood about 15 feet high, and it was 19 feet to the catwalk. Since the school was new, the catwalks did not have any safety rails on them yet. We also had a dummy named Elmo Thudpucker. One day, all of the technicians conspired to pull one of the best practical jokes ever on Mr Kron. Mr Kron was up in the control booth on the headset while we were setting lights. We quietly hauled Elmo up the the catwalks and staged a fake fight. Mr Kron could only hear what was going on over the headset, and he could not see us. At the peak of the fake fight, we tossed Elmo off the catwalk. For a split second, all Mr Kron could see was “someone” (Elmo) falling off the catwalk. Needless to say, he flipped out. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. To this day, Overland High School Theatre is known as one of the most haunted places in Colorado, because of this practical joke. People told other people, who told others and almost 50 years later this practical joke is cemented into Overland High School history. It is interesting to see what the practical joke has morphed into today. https://www.denverhauntedhouses.com/creepy-colorado.
Over the course of the next four years, we did four stage productions a year, plus many concerts. Plays such as The Rhymers of Eldrich, Godspell, Fiddler on the Roof, etc. I grew my craft from working with bubblegum, rubber bands and staples, to designing sets, lights, and stage managing. John taught 20 years in the Cherry Creek Public School District, retired and then taught for 20 more years in the Littleton Public School District. John recently was the recipient of a Colorado State Thespian Hall of Fame Award, which is quite an accomplishment and formally acknowledges the impact he has made on thousands of peoples lives, including mine. Needless to say, I could not have had the impact on the performing industry that I did, without him. John and I remain close friends to this day. As a matter of fact, his daughter lives down the street from me and calls me her prodigal brother.