Tree Number Two

Our community theater's holiday play this year was a musical version of a classic winter fairy tale, and they needed people to play the enchanted forest. I'd never acted in my life. I auditioned on a dare from my coworker.

I was cast as Tree Number Two. I had one line: "Who goes there?" I also had a costume made of brown felt, chicken wire and about four hundred paper leaves, which I wore for two hours each night while standing very still.

I took it extremely seriously. I practiced my line in the car. I practiced standing still in my kitchen. On opening night, when the young hero crept through the forest, I boomed, "Who goes there?" so dramatically that a child in the front row screamed and then started giggling.

The cast became like family. We ate pizza in the green room. We sang carols backstage. The lead actress, who's seventeen, helped me reattach my leaves every night.

At the curtain call, the audience gave Tree Number Two its own little cheer. I bowed so low that half my leaves fell off.