![\"chemiseancienregime.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/chemiseancienregime.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt was about 10 pm my time last night when my phone rang. It was Kate. I immediately was confused: “Wait a sec … doesn’t she have a show?” It was 8 pm where she was … so twas a huge mystery. If she calls me at 8 pm on a MONDAY, then I am not confused because that is actors day off. But last night? I answered.<\/p>\n
“Don’t you have a show tonight??”<\/p>\n
“Oh. Yes. I’m backstage right now, in between scenes.”<\/p>\n
She’s doing a Moliere production so the picture of her, backstage, in her costume, calling me, was deliciously funny to me.<\/p>\n
“Please tell me what you are wearing right now.”<\/p>\n
“Well, I gotta admit that I am a little bit ancien regime<\/i>.”<\/p>\n
I started guffawing. Say no more, Kate, say no more.<\/p>\n
“I am wearing a corset and a wig.”<\/p>\n
“Is it blonde?”<\/p>\n
“No. Brunette, with long side curls.”<\/p>\n
“Do you have a decadent beauty mark??”<\/p>\n
“No, but you know what? I really should.”<\/p>\n
She was sitting in the small kitchen\/lounge backstage – dressed like that – calling me in her free time. I want a photograph of that. Also the fact that she just casually referenced “ancien regime” … For some reason, that’s one of our jokes: Who can say “ancien regime” in the most casual over-it way, and work it into a sentence. It’s quite a fun game. I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n
Her husband is in the same show – so I asked, “Where is he??”<\/p>\n
“Oh – he’s stage left, waiting to make his entrance.”<\/p>\n
I don’t know why this entire scenario pleased me so much, but it did. I was still laughing when we finally hung up the phone. We blabbed on, about our lives – a feverish catching up – and out of nowhere, she says, in an overtly calm yet totally panicked voice, “I have to go now.”<\/p>\n
“BYE.” I shouted and hung up.<\/p>\n
Had she misjudged how much time she had? Did she miss an entrance? Will we ever know?<\/p>\n
I can’t get the image out of my mind of my dear friend Kate dressed like this:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
… talking to me on her cell phone backstage .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was about 10 pm my time last night when my phone rang. It was Kate. I immediately was confused: “Wait a sec … doesn’t she have a show?” It was 8 pm where she was … so twas a … Continue reading