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Orchestra Pit Memories
William
Wayne Weems
©
2016
by
William Wayne Weems
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Jon Keller has asked me to
share my memories as a Theater Nashville player in the early 1960's
at the Belcourt Theater. There aren't too many. I
was on
stage during only one of their productions. Today often called the
Belcourt Cinema, at that time the subject building retained many of
those antique features also seen in the downtown Lowe's "Vendome"
theater (since destroyed by fire). Full stage equipment for live
plays could be hidden by a drop-down movie screen at need, a common
feature of depression era theaters that had to be able to switch
between live "vaudeville" acts and the latest Hollywood
offerings....whatever bought in the crowds.
During the referenced
period there were only three continuing live theatrical troops in
Nashville, Tennessee; the Circle Players in what is now the Bluebird
Cafe, Theater Nashville at the Belcourt, and those who mounted
surprisingly sophisticated plays targeted toward a pre-teen audience
and presented next to the old Children's Museum in the building on
the Howard School grounds they still occupy. There was a real
problem for a callow youth like myself who hoped to gain acting
experience in the pair of "adult" venues....each had a
oversized stable of excellent adult actors who would vie for the few
roles available each year. But on occasion economic necessity
dictated Theater Nashville mounting an impressive production of
classic material that many teens would be encouraged or even required
by their schools to attend....sometimes the student ticket holders
were driven to the theater in school buses. Depending on the
play there could be a significant number of walk-on and minor
line parts, and teen audiences would not be put off by teen
actors.
I squeezed myself into the oversize cast of a production of
Shakespeare's "Macbeth".
The production crew
were attempting spectacle, and ready to build to attain it.
As
I recall there were permanent audience box seats set in an elevated
position on both sides of the wall fanning out from the proscenium
arch. These were covered over by sets; a noble's dining table
was on the left, castle battlements on the right...these "wings"
were well lit when in use, darkened when eyes were to be
directed elsewhere on stage. The honest to goodness orchestra
pit was neatly boarded over, so that actors could saunter over to and
upon the additional stage "wings" without breaking stride.
Yet if any now from prior audiences recall that production of
"Macbeth" it will probably be because of the OTHER
modification made to the orchestra pit.
The three witches in
that play had a sizable paper-mache cauldron on the orchestra pit
cover, whose lip could be lowered flush to the stage when not in
use. A large square opening in the orchestra pit cover to
their
left was invisible to the audience, but the actresses on stage could
see two large mattresses covering the concrete floor immediately
below it. While they were doing their routine with the
elevated
cauldron two small ladies in the pit below below raised hand puppets
through the cauldron's open base to represent the witches' visions.
Other actors and extras crawled over and crowded around the two
slight females, blowing copious amounts of cigarette smoke upward and
through the cauldron. The clouds of tobacco smoke looked impressive
in the overhead lighting, since the dimmable bulbs that ringed the
margin of the orchestra pit had all been removed from their
sockets.
In their place were screwed in household fuses whose tops had been
broken into so they could be modified and FILLED WITH GUNPOWDER.
After the "witches"
had finished their business the switch to the orchestra pit lights
were thrown and the darkened auditorium was splashed with a brilliant
white flash, followed by a huge rising cloud of smoke. The three
actresses dropped feet first through the cutout and onto the waiting
mattresses below, while the smokers and puppeteers quickly lowered
the cauldron. When the audience members rubbed the spots from
their eyes it seemed to them the "witches" and their gear
had simply vanished. On occasion some without immediate calls
would crawl onto the "witches" mattresses, look up through
the wide opening in the orchestra pit cover, and enjoy the play from
a different perspective. Thereby hangs the remainder of my tale.
The male dressing room
was increasingly raucous as the play's run neared its end. The lead
actors grew convivial to all the supporting cast, and the banter
became especially intense when the opposite sex was under discussion.
Our "Macbeth" actor had apparently a great reputation at
one time as a ladies man. When a handsome young jock who had a minor
role refused to be impressed, our "Macbeth" teased him
ruthlessly, pointing out his lack of progress with a tall and
beautiful female extra he had apparently been pursuing. Suddenly
inspiration struck me, and I announced that that blonde and I would
be lying together before the evening was through. Howls of scorn and
derision echoed through the room, for I was nearly as homely then as
I am today. Our "Macbeth" told me he would watch for my
mussed stage makeup after she gave me the back of her hand, and the
young jock vowed to turn and bare his ass at curtain call if anything
that unlikely should occur. Yet I knew something they apparently did
not.
Our blonde beauty had
been quietly watching the acting in the more intense scenes from the
wings when she was not required on stage, and I suggested to her that
a marvelous view of Macbeth's dagger soliloquy could be had from the
mattresses used by the "witches", as it lay almost beside
the right wing of the "stage" (the "castle rampart").
She had always been put off by the frantic activity in that area, but
I assured her this was over for the duration of that performance and
I, being a member of the cigarette smoking team, could easily lead
the way. So it was that our "Macbeth", in the middle of his
histrionics, happened to glance down and see we two lying prone
together, gazing up at him. Due to the central sag of the
battered mattresses we were actually touching each other, and I gave
our "Macbeth" a little wave. He all but choked with
laughter. He turned and faced the painted castle wall and stood
there, his shoulders heaving and tears of mirth coursing down his
cheeks. Our "Macbeth" remained in this position long enough
to draw a worried buzz from the audience, but when he heard them he
turned around and concluded his oration with great power. I doubt my
lovely companion ever figured out why such an interruption occurred
during a otherwise stellar performance, but I have to say it remains
one of my favorite memories of my teen years..
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