The library was a nine story structure that housed books and research materials. However, the top two floors were designated to be the college theatre. It was an empty space until a brash young theatre major from the University of Nebraska named James H. "Bill" Walton was hired to create a theatre. Along with a group of enthusiastic students eager to have theatre on the campus a very workable proscenium theatre was built and then an arena stage was added. When I arrived in the fall of 1961 I was immediately impressed with this man who I thought was much older than his twenty eight years. Mr. Walton was bald, wore thick glasses and chain smoked Camels but in the orientation program he conveyed that this was more than a theatre. I was feeling somewhat lost and alone and this guy made me want to come back. Soon he was recruiting volunteers for a "little project" that would greatly enhance the theatre.A drive in movie theatre in town was replacing it's seats--yes they had several rows of seats outdoors presumably for those who did not want to sit in their cars for a double feature. I had no idea that people went to drive ins to actually watch a movie, but I was in college now and learning new things.
We all gathered at the theatre on a Saturday morning and piled into a stake body truck and took off for the drive in. We had to load the seats in rows on to the truck. They were bolted together seat by seat and trying to handle this snake of steel and wood was impossible but the professor yelled at us constantly and somehow we piled all these seats on the truck and then piled ourselves on it as well.
The seats did not fit on the elevators so the next job was to somehow get the damn things up to the ninth level. Sometime in the afternoon we finally got all of them up and a dozen would be actors, designers and directors lay sprawled on the stage moaning from exhaustion. But the job was not done. Mr. Walton wanted them placed and bolted down before we left. The trouble was none of the rows were exactly the same so we had to keep shifting them to make them fit. We lifted whole rows as Mr. Walton tried to eyeball where they would fit. It was like a giant game of checkers with a mad man as the master. Finally he was satisfied and we all left wondering when the fun and excitement of theatre would begin.
The first production in the "new" theatre was "Hamlet". Mr. Walton was directing but he had invited a friend from summer stock to coach us on Shakespeare and to play the role of Gertrude, Hamlet's mother.Her name was Gina Petrushka and she had a very impressive career including working with Bertold Brecht in her native Germany. I was fortunate to play Rosencranz in an excellent cast that was headed by John Rosenthal, a fine actor. The entire cast had acting experience. The set, lighting and costumes were excellent. Mr. Walton had been directing and teaching for years in college and in summer stock companies. His standards were high and he demanded a great deal from all of us. The production was very well received on campus and in the community of Winston-Salem and we began to sell out. Late into the run the most unforgettable evening I have ever spent in the theatre occurred.
It was the last scene in the play, the "death scene" and everything was going well. Suddenly from up stage center a college security guard appeared looking like some Southern sheriff from central casting. A cop hat was pushed back on his mostly bald head. His belly protruded over his gun belt. When the stage lights hit his eyes he glared around but seemed totally oblivious to the actors and the audience. He then casually strolled down the center , stepped off the foot high stage and disappeared up the aisle. No one in the cast most of whom were "dieing" on stage could believe it. Actors are taught that no matter what never break character. Props fail to be placed, whole pages of script can be dropped by a fellow actor but you press on. You stay "in character", do your best and try to never let the audience know that anything is wrong. But this was too much even for the highly experienced Ms. Petrushka. She started to laugh and kept turning away from the audience trying to cover her laughter but it just set the rest of us off. We were all laughing hard and trying to keep going with this the climactic scene in the play. And finally we did. The action of all the stabbings finally stopped our laughter and we got back to the drama.
And then he came back!
Having finished his business he strolled casually up the aisle stepped on the stage, crossed up center and disappeared. Again the actors broke out in laughter that they continued to try and hide. As a slain Hamlet lay in Laertes' arms the actor seemed to be crying almost uncontrollably only we knew it was laughter as he uttered "Good night, sweet prince....but..."thoughts of angels sing thee to thy rest" was completely drowned out by the continual chant "WE WANT PANTIES, WE WANT PANTIES." The first pantie raid in more than four years was being held at the women's dorms. We later learned that the president of the college was in the audience also for the first time in four years.
We did not take a curtain call but ran backstage and laughed and laughed. Gina Petruska said "Forty years in the theatre and this is the funniest thing that has ever happened to me."
It's been fifty years now for me and still nothing compares.
I remain good friends with Bill Walton, that brash young professor and am grateful for all that he taught me about theatre(and life) over the years. I am not sure he ever believed what happened on that memorable night of "Hamlet".
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