A few years ago, I got hired for my first lead part in a stage
production. The play, called "Powder Blue Chevy" revolved
around the lives of Chinese immigrants working hard to make it
in a small town in the interior of British Columbia in Canada.
My character, Eddy, had a secret love affair with a white girl,
Marilyn, who worked in his friend's restaurant. In one scene,
Eddy and Marilyn finish making love and begin talking. Eddy's
in love with Marilyn but he finds it very hard to communicate.
There is some misunderstanding and Marilyn stomps out on Eddy
who pulls her back into bed. This frightens Marilyn who has been
involved in abusive relationships in the past. She begins to cry.
Eddy apologizes profusely.
In order to give the scene reality, the director asked us to be
nude. Eddy spent all of his scene under the covers but Marilyn
did get up briefly. If we were supposed to be making love under
the covers then things would look very unrealistic if people could
catch glimpses of Eddy's underwear or pajamas. Because this was
my first professional theater engagement, the director felt apprehensive
about asking me to be naked. It didn't actually bother me too
much. I thought it was reasonable for the scene. It certainly
wasn't gratuitous. Besides, I would be under the covers.
My confidence was with me only during the rehearsal period. I
hadn't thought about being naked with my parents or my in-laws
in the audience. Also, I hadn't thought about romping around naked
with another woman while my wife was in the audience. We were
only recently married at the time. To make matters worse, this
was live theater. Anything could happen. Those covers could come
off by accident. Perhaps Marilyn would stray a little far when
trying to leave and I would have to get out of bed to pull her
back. Then, there was the thought: what if I got sexually aroused?
That would be really embarrassing.
I needn't have worried about the arousal part. I was nervous enough
that it never came into play. As for my wife Marianne, she came
to see the play four times and it never bothered her. Eddy, my
character, was so different from me in real life, that she never
really thought it was me up there, frolicking in the nude with
an equally naked actress. Maybe this was just something she told
herself to prevent from exploding but it worked for me.
And, thank God, those covers stayed in place for every performance.
However, I did have some embarrassing moments. There's a part
in the scene where I'm kneeling on the bed. The covers were still
on me but if you were sitting on the stage right side, depending
on what performance you came to see, you could clearly see my
butt. Also, the lighting for the scene cast a shadow of me on
the wall (all of me - use your imagination). The shadow was large,
because the light was close behind me while the wall was far from
me. Fortunately, Marianne didn't tell me about these things until
after the run of the play. As luck would have it, my parents,
my in-laws, and many of my friends just happened to have been
sitting on the accursed side of the stage. Now they all know what
my butt looks like and they know the silhouette of my genitals.
Such is the danger of a career in the arts.
