There ARE no small parts...

This copious amount of time to sit around and wait makes me realize it's been quite a long time since I've had a really tiny part in a play. Meaning less than a minute of stage time total. My first role back in Jr. High when the bug first bit was such a part - I had lost out to Laura Culberson the role of Dagmar in I Remember Mama (John Van Druten) after a series of callbacks where the director couldn't make up her mind. As a consolation, the director created a small, one-line walk-on role for me in the second act: "Hotel Guest Child".

The next thankless role was my first year at Colorado State University in Brecht's Mother Courage, when I played "Scene 8 Woman". I got to wear old-age makeup and collapse from hunger after saying my one line, which I still remember: "There's nothing doing here either. Let's go". In a German accent no less. It was actually an important role for me at that point in my college career, however, as I got to meet and bond with other folks in the theatre department that I wouldn't have otherwise met. I ended up winning a department award for that role - can't remember award's title, but it had something to do with fulfilling your tiny duties and having a good attitude about them. 

Other small roles occurred. I had several with no lines but way more stage time and movement. A non-speaking fairy in  A Midsummer Night's Dream; an non-speaking attendant in Antigone...and several small roles in Romeo and Juliet. I took up crossword puzzles during this run. 

That was in 2002. 35 shows under my belt since then and all of them either leading or meatily supporting. And here we are at the Young Man From Atlanta with a four-line role and not much else to do but sit backstage and write in my blog! The director mentioned it'd be pretty thankless, but I DO still get to be part of this ensemble. I still get to speak some Horton Foote, however little. I don't make a habit of accepting tiny roles, because they're usually not offered to me. And there's something about getting to ride through the journey of a character through the a whole production of transformation that is extremely satisfying as an artist. I likely won't do it again unless there is some exci