‘Is this the night?’

“You’ll never know what it’s like to go out on a stage and wonder, ‘Is this the night?’

I love that line. It’s one of several hundred I get to deliver in a production of “A Personal Appearance,” a one-act play by Donald Steele. This week, I’ll deliver it to an audience of community theater people in Ephrata, PA as part of the Eastern States Theatre Association Festival. This Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop production won the Theatre Association of New York State competition last year, and we were moved up to “ESTA,” as it is called in community theater circles.

Think of it as a 4H show for thespians. You put your best sow forward and hope for blue ribbons all around.

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Balances

By SKIP MENDLER

I was about ten or so, I guess. We were in Gettysburg, visiting one of my dad’s army buddies, and he had a son about my age. “Hey, wanna play Monopoly?” the kid suggested. I had recently learned the game and I enjoyed it, so I said “Sure!”

It soon became apparent that I was in trouble. As soon as he had bought Park Place, he started buying houses to put on it, even though he didn’t yet own Boardwalk—and as you know, that was clearly against the rules.

“Hey, wait a minute!” I said. “The rules say you can’t…”

“This is my game,” he said. “We’re playing by my rules.”

Oh. Well. There it was. Being the polite little house guest that I was, there wasn’t much choice.

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