Sibling Assignment #56: Healing Powers of Snug the Joiner

Because Silver Valley Girl and family have been playing Moliere's farce, "The Miser", at the 6th Street Theater in Wallace (Center of the Universe), I assigned me and my sisters this topic: "Write about an experience you have had in the theater that made you a better person."

InlandEmpireGirl wrote about how special she felt portraying Mother Goose in kindergarten, here and Silver Valley Girl sees her life in the theater as a spiritual experience, drawing her closer to God, here.

You can also check out pictures of the 6th Street Theater production of "The Miser, here and here. What's more, you can read InlandEmpireGirl's glowing review, here.



I look happy in this picture, don't I?

I was really happy.

This picture was taken at the Blue Door Theater at Lane Community College during a break in rehearsing our Spring, 2005 production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". I was playing the role of one of the story's rough mechanicals: Snug, the Joiner. Snug, in turn, is cast as Lion in the play-within-the-play that the rough mechanicals give to the nobility to end the play, and, in this picture, I am wearing my lion headdress.

The year 2005 started terribly and was a continuation of a terrible 2004.

In July, 2004 my stepdaughter, Molly, was terribly burned in a camp stove fuel accident. Although the accident was not life-threatening, Molly suffered serious burns to the upper part of her torso, her neck, and the backs of her arms. She was admitted twice in the Burn Center in Portland, once for attention immediately after the accident and again following skin graft surgery which came about three weeks after the accident.

Even before Molly's accident, I had sought medical help for headaches and fatigue. Throughout the spring of 2004 and on into the summer, I'd been sleeping long hours and had headaches I couldn't shake.

In December, once the fall 2004 school term ended, I visited another doctor and it became clear what ailed me: my blood pressure was very high and I had lost 70% of my kidney function, most likely a result of the bacterial meningitis I had contracted in November 1999, and it was evident that I was suffering from clinical depression. I'd been down this depression road before, but the stakes seemed higher now.

About six weeks later, in February of 2005 , I went on a wonderful outing. Friends of mine from Kellogg were traveling to Lincoln City to spend Super Bowl weekend and spend some time on the Oregon Coast and I drove up on Sunday to meet them, play some games at the casino, and spend the night.

I had a great time.

Driving back to Eugene on Monday afternoon, however, I fought and fought against fatigue. I figured the problem was from staying up too late. I pulled off the road, slept for a while, and resumed my trip home.

I arrived home around three in the afternoon and fell right into bed, slept through dinner, slept through the night, and when I tried to wake up to go to work on Tuesday morning, I couldn't get up.

I was under the grip of depression. I'd never felt worse. By Thursday, the Deke took me to the emergency room at the hospital. I was released from ER and I saw a psychiatrist the following day. Things were dark.

Not long after this episode, Sparky Roberts asked me to audition for a couple of roles in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", which was already in rehearsal, but two cast members had left the cast.

With the Deke, I deliberated and deliberated whether I should take on a project like this given all the trouble I'd been having with fatigue and given how frayed I was after the episode with depression I'd had shortly before.

But, I decided to go for it.

I thought it might do me a lot of good to be a part of a theatrical cast.

I thought it might do me a lot of good to take on a role that might get me outside of myself.

I underestimated how much good playing the role of Snug, the Joiner would do for me.

Shakespeare's Snug is a good chap. He's a little bit slow minded and he's frightened of acting. His heart is very good and his aim, above all, is to please.

It really did me good to have long periods of time, both in rehearsal, and especially in performance, when I was not my depression suffering self and could be this good chap Snug.

Snug became a favorite of the cast and his portrayal of Lion was, for many, an unforgettable moment in the play.

It was healing to be this guy, to create such a likable character and to embody his simplicity and his moment of courage when he overcomes his fear and plays Lion to the best of his ability.

Shakespeare's genius in creating the play-within-the-play is that while the performance is farcical, the effort of the rough mechanicals is so sincere, so genuine, so eager to please, that it's touching to the nobility and to the theater audience.

Something that had been constricting and constraining my spirit cracked open when I played Snug. I could actually feel myself breathe more freely and laugh more fully and feel more deeply. The camaraderie I enjoyed with the cast, men and women much younger than I, opened me up to music, movies, books, and ways of seeing the world that enriched me, made my world seem at once fuller and lighter.

It was one of the happiest phases of my life, a great relief, and I have the theater to thank for it.
Not only did it temporarily lift my spirits, this phase inspired me give my dog his unforgettable name!