Stories from the Front Lines

Just in case you didn't know, I perform one-woman shows in schools every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In these shows I wear a variety of costumes and footwear to indicate Wilma's different ages. The changes happen fairly quickly, and the costumes only have as many pieces as necessary to give the general idea; pretty bare bones.

After my second and final program of today, during the question and answer session, a first-grader rasied her hand.

"Yes?" I asked and pointed to her.

"Did they have socks?" she asked, all seriousness. The room erupted in laughter and I had to take a moment to compose myself. At no time in my show do I wear socks, and I also explained at the beginning that Wilma's family didn't have much money. This little girl put two and two together, but decided to ask anyway. I looked down at her.

"They did have socks, it's just that as an actor, it's faster for my changes to not wear socks." I moved on to the next question, but I was still giggling to myself.