The Summer of '72

My beliefs had changed quite a bit since my Catholic grade school and high school years. After all, these were the 70’s with their free-love philosophy due mainly to the introduction of the birth-control pill. For the first time, women were as free as men to explore their sexuality without the risk of getting pregnant. I started taking the pill when I was a senior in college counting myself fortunate that the pull-out method had worked for me up to that point.

John and I stopped going to Mass once we became intimate. It seemed counter-productive to attend a church that believed, because of your pre-marital activities, you were going to burn in hell for all eternity unless you repented. It was best just to not think about it—although I lived in a constant state of worry. I figured once we confessed and got married, all would be forgiven and we would be back in God’s good graces. I just had to make it until then and my chances were pretty good that I would. I was not involved in any high-risk activities, my parents were still alive so I didn’t have any genetic predispositions, and I was young and relatively healthy.

At that point, I didn’t believe what I was doing was right but I wasn’t willing to live the life of a prude either. I enjoyed sex and figured as long as I stuck with one, two or three partners, I was doing better than most girls my age. And, of course, we didn’t have AIDS to worry about. With John, I rationalized that, since we were going to get married, it was not as bad as having sex just for fun. We loved each other and were committed—until we weren’t. With Bill, I was just so head-over-heels that nothing could have stopped me. My heart definitely ruled in that relationship.

So with my Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in hand, I headed into the working world of the Pioneer Playhouse—my first professional dancing/acting job. At that point, the Playhouse had been in operation since 1950 but had almost exclusively hosted dramatic plays or comedies—not musicals. The owners, Col. Eben Henson and his wife, Charlotte, had hired Connie Phelps, a flamboyant former dancer from Louisville, Kentucky, to spice up the summer by offering two musicals, “Can Can” and “New Moon” and two comedies, “Teahouse of the August Moon” and “Star-Spangled Girl”. Everyone was convinced Eben was having an affair with Connie although no one had any proof.

In 2010, the Pioneer Playhouse celebrated its 60th year of uninterrupted Summer Stock Theatre. Col. Henson passed away in 2004 but his children, Holly and Robby direct the performances today. The Theatre is currently a dinner theatre with performances from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Pioneer Playhouse boasts alumni John Travolta, Lee Majors and Bo Hopkins among others.

While working at the Playhouse, we lived in “rustic cabin-style” rooms with no air conditioning that framed the amphitheatre seating—with girls on stage left and boys on stage right. The accommodations were bi-level with the nicer rooms on top housing the stars and the lower level ones, the chorus. The bathrooms/showers were communal. There was a campground adjacent to the Playhouse with a pool that we were allowed to use occasionally. Meals were served cafeteria-style outside in the courtyard—cooked by Charlotte Henson. There was an air-conditioned lobby where we were able to play games and keep cool—Monopoly was a favorite. Rehearsals were conducted in a large warehouse adjacent to the courtyard. Backstage there were male and female dressing rooms, wardrobe and costume rooms, and a set-building area. All performances were held under-the-stars and rain would cause the evening’s festivities to be cancelled. Consequently, we were always praying for rain.

The four of us—Rusty, Carla, Marcy and I—were hired for the first three shows. During “Can Can” and “New Moon”, because they were full-blown musicals, we were on-stage singing and dancing a good portion of the show. In “Teahouse”, we only performed a traditional Geisha dance—so our part was much smaller. We were not hired for “Star-Spangled Girl”. We lived in the lower-level rooms although not many of us stuck with our initial room assignments.

When we first arrived at the Playhouse, to our dismay, we discovered Danville was dry. In order to buy alcohol, one had to drive about 45 minutes one-way. The guys would take turns making runs for everyone as there were nightly parties and lots of imbibing. During the rehearsals for “Can Can”, our nights were free so it was definitely party-time! There was nothing else to do anyway as we were stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Under the circumstances, we got to know our fellow actors very quickly.

Mike Hurd and I hooked up almost from the start. On the first night, a group of guys and girls got together in Mike’s room to drink beer. There were probably ten of us sitting on a bed. For some strange, hormonal reason, Mike and I suddenly found ourselves staring into each other’s eyes. Shortly thereafter he leaned over and kissed me. Nothing much was said; but after that, we were both smitten.

Mike was my age and from New Hartford, New York. He had just graduated with a degree in German from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He had auditioned and was scheduled to attend “The Circle in the Square” Theatre School in New York City in the fall. He had decided to pursue an acting career after becoming a nationally-ranked college wrestler and being forced to quit because of torn cartilage in his knee. The torn cartilage wasn’t all-bad as it had gotten him a medical deferment from the armed forces. It was a good thing as his birthday, September 14th, was chosen #1 in the lottery draft. His “claim to fame” was an article written in a national magazine citing that he had thrown a chair into a TV set at his fraternity house when he heard the news. As the media is wont to do, the account was grossly exaggerated. After quitting wrestling, he had taken up acting and “gotten the bug” performing in many college shows.

“Can Can” rehearsals started immediately and what fun we had! We learned blocking, dances and songs, and were fitted for our many costumes. Jerry Bradshaw, the Musical Director, had us sing scales to determine our range—I was definitely a soprano. Sometimes singing rehearsals were conducted separately with Jerry and sometimes with Connie including blocking or choreography. I had two big dancing solos—one at the end of Act I as Eve in the Garden of Eden Ballet and the other, the Apache, during Act II where I danced with all the guys. During rehearsals, I flirted with Michael every chance I got.

The Garden of Eden Ballet was a big production number involving the dancers dressed as animals of every kind. As Eve, I wore only a flesh-colored leotard accented with garlands sewn onto the fabric in strategic places. Maynard, the lead male dancer, played the part of the snake in green tights and an elegant headpiece. Michael and Marcy were kangaroos with suggestive, long, brown tails. Rusty and her partner were frogs, she showing a fair amount of cleavage and Carla and her partner were flamingos. There were also cats and inch worms. The costume designer, Paul Rose, who bore some resemblance to an elderly Elton John, worked his fingers to the bone preparing the hundreds of elaborate costumes. As Dance Captain, I was treated as special by everyone, a position I did not fully appreciate at the time.

The Apache was equally as elaborate; and while dancing my role, I got to show my sexy, sultry side. Again, I danced with Maynard who was a great partner. All the girls loved Maynard because of his bad-boy image and tall, tan, athletic body—even though he was thoroughly gay. At one point during the first few weeks, Jerry, the Musical Director turned photographer, took “tastefully nude” photos of Maynard and sold them to the girls for $5 each. I have my centerfold picture of Maynard to this day.

“Can Can” was first performed on Broadway in the early 1950’s. Its setting is a dance hall in Montmartre in the 1890’s. It’s a fairly simple story about a judge who wants to close the dance hall because he considers the girls’ dancing immoral. He visits the dance hall incognito and falls for one of the girls; after that he changes his tune. Gwen Verdon was in the original Broadway production—some say in the role that made her a star. Cole Porter wrote the music and lyrics and Michael Kidd was the choreographer.

“Can Can” opened the season at the Pioneer Playhouse on June 19, 1972 to rave reviews. Paul Rose was mentioned prominently in the Danville Advocate-Messenger article the next day. “Stealing the entire show were the magnificently rich costumes designed by Paul Rose which kept the audience marveling in their seats as each new scene produced a new set of finery.” And I received the first review of my career, “Robert Davis Sheridan (Maynard) as the snake and Deanne Welch as Eve turned in superbly graceful renditions of Eve’s temptation in as professional a sequence as one would hope to find anywhere.” Not a bad way to start a career!

While “Can Can” played at night with Sunday and Monday dark, we rehearsed “Teahouse” during the day. Performances were fun and audiences appreciative with no nerves whatsoever. We were all on Cloud 9. Rusty hooked up and moved in with Dennis, one of the “stars” and the Technical Director. Carla started dating Jerry, the Musical Director. Jerry was the only one of us who didn’t live at the Playhouse as he had a place in town not far from the theatre. He drove a little yellow sports car although that was the only cool thing about him. Although he was super nice, he was super large and had never really had a girlfriend before. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and apparently Carla saw something in Jerry no one had seen before. Marcy had a main squeeze back home but she and Connie’s son, Stefan, spent a lot of time together. And, of course, Mike moved in with me.

It was soon time for bridesmaid duty at Sue’s wedding in Pittsburgh, PA. After Mike drove me to the airport in Cincinnati, I flew early Saturday morning on a one-way ticket to Pittsburgh. The day after the wedding, I had arranged to drive back with Glenn Bitzenhoffer and his parents to Cincinnati where Mike would pick me up and take me back to the Playhouse. Luckily with Sunday and Monday dark, I didn’t have to rush back.

It was an omen—Sue got married during the worst storm Pennsylvania had ever seen –Hurricane Agnes. It rained continually from well before I arrived until well after I left. Rain threatened hair-dos; puddles threatened bridesmaids’ peach-colored, full-length dresses and Sue’s wedding gown and train. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful wedding. Sue was radiant and even her Mike looked handsome. I met Sue’s brother and wife, sister and friends. Thankfully, the reception was held in the church hall so we didn’t go back out into the rain until everything was over. On the drive back, the devastation was apparent everywhere.

The following weekend was Nancy’s wedding. It was much simpler as I drove up to Toledo and back and stayed at my folks’ house. I didn’t even know Rudy, Nancy’s intended, but I had known all of Nancy’s family for years. The wedding was held at Christ the King Church and the reception at the Knights of Columbus Hall. Trish Gulch, our mutual high school friend, was one of the other bridesmaids. We wore green and white and the weather was perfect! It was over before I knew it and I was back to my life with Mike at the Pioneer Playhouse. I heard from many that Rusty performed admirably in my absence.

One Saturday night during the run of “Can Can”, Connie’s friend, Bill Webber, who owned a dance studio in Louisville came down to Danville with his long-time lover, Larry, to see the show. Bill was totally bowled over by my performance and made me a proposition. Fernand Nault, the Director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens of Montreal was scheduled to stage Les Sylphides on Bill’s dancers the following spring. Bill suggested that, after my summer stint at the Playhouse, I come to Louisville to take free lessons at his studio with the intention of dancing in his production while auditioning for Fernand’s company. He was sure Fernand would love me. Of course, at that point I had no idea what I wanted to do after the summer, but I thanked him and told him I would stay in touch.

When “Can Can” ended, we were sad but eager to move on. In “Teahouse of the August Moon”, Rusty, Carla, Marcy and I were onstage for a relatively short period of time—especially considering the time it took us to get into costume. We performed an authentic geisha dance in authentic geisha hair, make-up and costumes. While we were learning to apply our make-up, the newspaper took pictures for an article advertising the show. Paul insisted everything be genuine, down to our tiniest gestures.

While performing “Teahouse”, we learned “New Moon”. By this time, Maynard and some of the people hired for “Can Can” had gone and new folks had come in to replace them. Mike took over as my dance partner in “New Moon’ and we danced a flamboyant tango number as well as a few other dances in which we were featured. We had numerous costume changes and Paul Rose’s fingers continued flying.

By the time “New Moon” started, we were about worn out. Charlotte’s food was becoming nearly inedible and the weather was getting hotter and more humid. We were all tired of the uncomfortable beds and the bugs. We were ready to get back to civilization. Luckily, our days were free while “New Moon” was playing as there were only a few of us in “Star Spangled Girl”. With days free, parties could go longer into the night because we could sleep later.

The summer of my first professional job came to an end one hot day in early August. There were tears all around. Mike decided to come with me to Cincinnati for a few days to meet Sue and help me check out the dance scene. Marcy headed back to Cincinnati to finish college. Rusty stayed because she was an understudy for the next show. She and Dennis were trying to work-out a future together. Carla stayed because she didn’t want to leave Jerry. The rest of the cast, I never saw again—not a one of them. I have even forgotten most of their names. I have an album of pictures that I look at every now and then to bring back the happy memories. Looking back, I can honestly say that was one of the best times of my life!