Cosmic Dust

Ah, memories. I have recently shared my first stage experience with the Tommy Knockers, written by Margot King. My next experience on-stage was also written by Mrs. King. It was a play about astronomy called Cosmic Dust.

I learned an incredible amount about astronomy during that play. I learned about the ancient Egyptians beliefs about the world. I got to play one of the Egyptians - a learned scribe. I got to talk about the goddess Nut whose body is stretched up over the earth. I remember that Margot's daughter Julie (who was in my grade) was the goddess Nut. I always had a bit of a crush on her. It seems to me that Kristin Karrman was my counterpart in the Egyptian myth, but I could be remembering wrong. I am really trying to remember who else was in it, but I am drawing a complete blank.

I learned more about astronomy being in that play than I did when I took it in college. Of course, this was the material I found interesting. The history and facts about the planets and universe. I learned about the Greeks belief about how the universe was put together, and the early church's belief of the spheres surrounding the earth. I learned about Copernicus's heretical belief that the earth goes around the sun, as well as the eccentric - and fascinating - astronomer Tycho Brahe who believed that the sun went around the earth, but all the other planets went around the sun, and Johannes Kepler who figured out that the orbits of the planets were ellipses, not circles. I remember watching the scene where the Hersheys discovered Uranus, and then the mathematical discoveries of Neptune and Pluto.

The show ended with an interpretive dance about the Big Bang. Yes, I was in an interpretive dance, and yes, I wore tights for that dance. I remember being a little mortified at that, but I got over it.

The play was produced in the City Hall. It had this big old theater in it with a balcony and an orchestra pit. The orchestra pit went back under the stage to these spooky halls and dressing rooms that were a lot of fun to startle people in. The whole stage area had a particular scent to it, kind of a musky sent overlaid with dust and old paint.

I don't think I ever really thanked Margot for the love she instilled in me of the theater. She was a very important person in my life during my junior and senior high life. She taught me piano - I was a terrible student - and she challenged me with my drawing and writing. I owe her for the encouragement and for her ability to see the potential that was within me. I like to think that is what I do in my job with Upward Bound. It is the only way I know how to re-pay her; by doing for others what she did for me.