"The Boys Next Door"

No - this is not a post about Evan, Jed & Tucker...
This is a post to tell about the play that I'm in!
It's a really sweet story about four mentally challenged men who live together in a state run town home. They have a social worker who has been assigned to them, and the play follows their lives, as well as a few people who interact with them on a regular basis.
The three parts that I was chosen to play are VERY different from each other. In two scenes I am Mrs Fremus, the boys 75 year old neighbor, who's very hard of hearing. In another scene I am Karen Warren, a younger neighbor lady who comes to see if the boys have seen her son's hamster. (They killed what they thought was a "rat" the night before...oops!) My last (and favorite) role is Clara, one of their mentally challenged friends. It's a short scene, and I wish it lasted longer, but it's a whole heap of fun! (After I auditioned, Amy said she couldn't wait to see me act like that. "What do you do, Linds?" she asked. After explaining how I act as Clara, she said, "Oh... I've seen you do that thousands of times!")
Because I have these small roles, my time at practice has been busy filling in for any of the lead roles who are not there. I think there has been only one rehearsal that I have solely been the roles I was chosen for. All the other nights I've switched around from being Jack (their social worker) to Norman (pretty highly functioning - works at a donut shop & has a girlfriend) to Lucien (about the mentality of a five-year-old) to Arnold (who is a very nervous person - pretty highly functioning, but has OCD-like symptoms to the extreme) to Barry (the highest functioning of them all, but w/ schizphrenia brought on by an abusive father).
We had rehearsal today, and I was playing both Barry & Lucien. It got a little hectic when they had dialogue with each other. It was scheduled from 1-5, but around 3:30 the guys in the cast mutineed. With the Pats game starting at four, they had no interest in sticking around, and with promises that they'd really pay attention and work hard on Tuesday & Wednesday night, the director acquiesced & sent us on our way.
What a treat to get home early & take a nap!