Open a new window, open a new door

Yes, every time I have a new adventure, I get to write about it. And if you read my columns, you know that I like to share the fun and still try to get a moral out of it (or at least blow off a little steam).

This isn’t a plug to come and see me in “Mame” (with the Island Park Theatre Group on Nov. 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20), but more of a “what have I learned from this experience?” — and what can I share with my readers?

OK, here it my revelation — my feet hurt and I’m too old for this stuff.

Still in dress rehearsals, I have learned that a 50-something woman like myself really should get a different hobby —something that requires sitting down, not too much thought or physical activity, and something that, at the end of the day, doesn’t exhaust me to the to point of mumbling something about flapper dresses and clam juice.

I know I will feel differently after “Hell Week” (the term for the week before the show when you have runs in your stockings and men look better than you do in their stage makeup). I know it will all be rewarding when I take my bows (I have two seconds to make it count — they even get a few more seconds than that for Academy Award speeches!) I know I will feel a sense of accomplishment, of camaraderie and of knowing that I saw something through to the end. And there is no better place than the theater to shine — the lights, the sounds, the music, the dancing — it really is heady.

But what have I come away with that I can share, even for those of you who wouldn’t dare step on a stage other than to decorate it for a school play?

Open a new window, that’s what you should do! It doesn’t have to be acting, but something new, something exciting, a little daring (even chosing a wild new color combo for knitting can be daring!)

There’s a song in “Mame” called — what else? — “Open a New Window,” where Mame sings to her nephew, Patrick, “Open a new window, open a new door, travel a new highway that’s never been tried before ...” Wise words, yes? Find something new, something fun. I hear you thinking “I don’t have time!” Neither do I. But it makes my toes tingle, and not in that bunion kind of way, to do something outside the box. Open a new window — but don’t lean too far out.

"Writing on the Wall" took first place for “Best Column Writing” with Suburban Newspapers of America for 2010. Comments? mmalloy@liherald.com