“I’m Patricia McNulty. I taught second grade at Hawthorn Elementary” (Parlor Games) and my husband Mort is not dead. During my senior year in high school I was actively involved in the theatre program. The final fall play I could audition for was called Parlor Games. Walking into auditions I had done little research on the show, but knew I wanted to be the lead nonetheless. After a long afternoon of auditioning and having to reread for callback, I ended up with the part of the lead. At that moment I was no longer Erika Watral; I had taken on a new persona and her name was Patricia McNulty. Patricia, or commonly known as Tricia, is a middle aged married woman with two kids and a psycho husband. Her husband, Mort, is known for his practical
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After finding out my role, I looked at the rest of the cast list. I was married to a freshman. Yes, there was four long years separating us, but in the end age did not matter. Mort McNulty was played by Jacob. He was a nice kid. The hardest part of channeling my inner Tricia was interacting with my fake husband. We did not have a lot of similarities and he was a tough nut to crack. The kid barely talked. What made interacting with Jacob on stage a little easier was the fact that we were acting. I acted like I liked him. I acted like we were married. I acted like I knew what I was doing. We only had a month to act like we were married and we were doing a lot worse than those ’90 Day Fiancé’ people. By the time the show dates came around we were at more of a first date type relationship rather than a married with kids couple. Not only did I have to deal with a new husband, I also had to learn to work with a new director. Our school had just put the kibosh on the previous drama teacher, so we ended up with a new one. Mrs. Birmingham is her name. She is a very wonderful lady. Throughout the year our bond grew stronger and she became my role model. Mrs. Birmingham had a new tactic to directing and I really dug it. She actually got on stage and helped us become the characters we were given. Morphing into Tricia was easier than I expected after guidance from Mrs. Birmingham. At the closing of the show I lost my new husband, but I did not lose the most important aspect of theatre, my new
After finding out my role, I looked at the rest of the cast list. I was married to a freshman. Yes, there was four long years separating us, but in the end age did not matter. Mort McNulty was played by Jacob. He was a nice kid. The hardest part of channeling my inner Tricia was interacting with my fake husband. We did not have a lot of similarities and he was a tough nut to crack. The kid barely talked. What made interacting with Jacob on stage a little easier was the fact that we were acting. I acted like I liked him. I acted like we were married. I acted like I knew what I was doing. We only had a month to act like we were married and we were doing a lot worse than those ’90 Day Fiancé’ people. By the time the show dates came around we were at more of a first date type relationship rather than a married with kids couple. Not only did I have to deal with a new husband, I also had to learn to work with a new director. Our school had just put the kibosh on the previous drama teacher, so we ended up with a new one. Mrs. Birmingham is her name. She is a very wonderful lady. Throughout the year our bond grew stronger and she became my role model. Mrs. Birmingham had a new tactic to directing and I really dug it. She actually got on stage and helped us become the characters we were given. Morphing into Tricia was easier than I expected after guidance from Mrs. Birmingham. At the closing of the show I lost my new husband, but I did not lose the most important aspect of theatre, my new