FOXSYLVANIA

– -I had earlier mentioned in this blog how I played a rooster in a second grade class play, wearing a woman’s nylon stocking over my head and face to which were attached a construction paper rendition of a rooster’s comb and beak.– Well, bigger and better animal impersonations lay ahead for me, specifically in college when I played Don Quixote’s horse, Rocinante, in an adaptation of  the musical, Man of La Mancha. It could have been far worse…the only other furry cast member was Sancho Panza’s donkey!  I considered myself to have had the glory role…and yes, that’s me in the image!

I really got into this, wearing a large black paper mache horse’s head crafted by the Arts Department. My equine body was black cloth with an underlying skeleton of two by fours artfully made with hinges to allow compression of the body in scenes that called for me to be lying down.  Unfortunately I was not anthropomorphic, and had no speaking lines.  Perhaps they’ll someday revise the play, and allow his horse to advise Don Quixote!

It was not until years later that I realized I was actually a fox…but hey, foxes are sly, and perhaps playing a horse was just a form of camouflage for me at the time!