My family and friends always knew I'd be involved in the arts; but when did the interests of theatrical design enter the fray? Why costuming? Why set and prop design? Why drama?
Well, on reflection I remembered a few outstanding moments in my childhood, one of which was dressing my youngest brother up as Santa Claus with what little materials I had. I don't remember how old I was though...maybe 10 years old? I knew we had a picture of the outfit in my parents photo box, so I went on a hunt and began digging away. (BTW - Looking through old photos can cause you to post them on facebook, LOL)
So without further ado I give you my little brother, Adam, sporting his Santa Claus outfit. Adam is wearing a red courderouy jacket and pants, a red cotton t-shirt, a white and red knitted hat and a fluffy beard of cotton balls. His bag is of the always fashionable white cotton pillowcase. As you can tell by the smile on his face and the gleam in his eyes he was very pleased with this look!
When it comes to props, the first thing I recall was building a rolling horse for us and our next door neighbors to ride. My dad had a great collection of tools, wood and a multitude of miscellaneous knick-knacks in the garage, so I just helped myself and went to work!
What I came up with was a magnificent steed that would make McGyver proud! The body of the horse consisted of a saw horse on wheels, on of those stringy mops, a rope, a paper bag and a large old blanket.
Again, I may have been around the age of 10 - 12.
Scott Wilson, my brother Mark, and Chris Wilson going for a trail ride
As for drama, I fondly remember the times when my cousins would come down for a visit and Jacki and I would write and perform some short plays for us, and our siblings, to perform for our parents. Ahhh - Those were the good old days! No pictures though. So sad.
There were however, a multitude of times that my brothers and I would play army or cowboys and indians with the neighbors. Mostly it was army. My dad was the company commander for the National Guard unit in our town so we had a plethera of outfits and supplies to make the playtime more realistic.
I don't know who's thumb that is, but the back row is me, the middle row is Scott and my little bro, Adam and up front is Chris.
I bet if you take the time to reflect and look at old photos of your childhood, you'll find yourself saying "Ahah! So that's when it happened!" So the challenge for today is to give reflection a shot and let me know if you connect the dots.
