"We are born astride a grave - WaynesWorldStage.com

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Michele had been at the new school abouttwo months when we decided to go visit Lyn'sfolks in Genoa. Michele's school was only about60 miles from Genoa, so I planned to go and seeher.As soon as Michele saw me, she ran to meand began pulling at me. She wanted to go home.I couldn't take her home. What could I do? Therewas a big rainstorm. We couldn't even go outside.She began to scream and pull out her hair. Shestarted to bang her head against the wall. Twobig men came out of nowhere and grabbed herand pulled her out of the room. I returned in therain to Lyn's folks' home. I was not crying. I wasscreaming. I could not bear the pain. When Ireturned, I went directly to bed. Lyn never evencame up to see me or ask what had happened.Each time that I went to Oneonta, it gotworse. Each time Michele and I went for a drive,she hoped that we were going home. When wewould return, the same two bruisers, who haddragged her out of the room before, would comeout and pry Michele's fingers loose fromwhatever she had grabbed on to, and carry herkicking and screaming back to the school.She had no hair left and had to wear ahelmet to protect her head. Her face wascontorted and disfigured. I found out later that264
they were giving her massive amounts ofThorazine, the same drug they use to calmhorses. As often as I could, I would bringMatthew and/or Shannon with me on these tripsto visit Michele. Their company helped ease thepain.Mom and Dad Walsh were not doing wellin Genoa. This house had been in the family forages but no one took care of it; it was fallingapart. There were massive holes in the roof.Upstate winters can be brutal and Claire felt thatthe folks could not survive a second winter in thathouse. Claire had a good job in the area andwanted to stay, but she asked me if there wasanything I could do to help the folks. No one elsein the family had any money and so it was up tome to do something.Greenpoint Savings Bank had been right.Real estate prices on Long Island had soared. Inthe few years that we owned our house it hadmore than doubled in value. My under-the-tablesecond mortgage had been paid off so I took anew second mortgage and used the money for thedown payment on a lovely little house inCenterport. Adorable may be a better choice ofwords. It was a very old two-bedroom house on aproperty that was split into three levels. Theprevious owner was an architect. He hadcompletely rebuilt the house.265
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The Cover PhotographThis is a pictu
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When a working New York City actorb
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in 1968 at the Pocket Theatre on Se
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had the idea of little league sport
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the wheel to make sure that our min
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What could I do? My father was goin
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would personally guarantee that it
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Like most of us at the time, I was
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good.” I was working around the c
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We all tried to communicate with al
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my better eye in an effort to stren
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uckled another laced…” It just
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"He and his girlfriend went upstate
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Chapter 2Wayne University would hav
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pictures of naked people were doing
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Let me throw in a bit of trivia. Th
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this is never mentioned in the anti
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old newspapers. No one else knew of
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pay, I had to purchase a bunch of i
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Presbyterian Church. It was intende
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Francisco, are all remembered as ma
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apologized, took a bow, and went ou
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still considered myself a devout Ch
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single beds, but I apparently slept
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I disagreed with much of what he wa
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Fred Barnett worked for his father,
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to stay and for the next five weeks
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very nervous. I only had a few doll
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of the producers of Lorraine Hansbe
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surprise, when I offered him a job,
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open The Vanguard Playhouse and the
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A new, unknown Detroit actor hadaud
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I would have to wait until I got to
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Chapter 4So here it is, the fall of
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an into Chuck. He asked if we could
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Canyon. As a former ministerial stu
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into San Francisco several times so
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I then returned to the papers and t
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quiet. Her roommate, apparently ana
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I then moved into the space we were
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extensive search, I settled on a yo
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collected deposit bottles and bough
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open the top half of the door. One
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and spray-paint them. A very inexpe
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day and night for several months re
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After a few days in Detroit, I was
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able to find out if I was going to
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kasha?" I inquired. "The germ of ba
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meet me. After arriving in the moun
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ight. I apologize. Thank you." I ha
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When the season was over, Joan and
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lab. I don't remember what Joan's j
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that I could comprehend the extent
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When I told Modernage that I wasqui
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an agent. I didn't. I'd never been
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After that night in the dressing ro
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114
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of punching the guy out. This was n
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actors are signed to contracts. Nor
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The Festival finished the season bu
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something drastic to get his attent
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Not wanting the audience to miss an
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young couple spend the night in the
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When Joan returned, she and I went
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I got a call from a director with w
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would not do my bit. Sure enough, w
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134
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from Ulysses. The implication was t
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shoes. When asked why he became an
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The next morning she left me in the
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ealized that we were the most theat
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ules specified that producers had t
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asked if she could speak with me pr
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through a farmers’ market with a
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office would be open at 10pm. This
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University. I didn't know what to d
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"Hey, what about me?" I shouted. I
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"rape" was meant in a classic sense
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NO, NO, NO, OH GOD, NO! PLEASE!THIS
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leave the show. I did not want Mich
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lists at all of the state homes thr
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164
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Michele's pleated skirts, and I pra
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een so moved by the time she spent
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question him. That policeman then c
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One of them returned and handed me
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phone, she was frightened and didn'
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couldn’t help but to wonder and h
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I took Michele to another psychiatr
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kind of private school for children
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Solomon and Ashemedai. I played Ash
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and watch me perform. Lyn would smi
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the first floor, and the blinds wer
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Twenty-eight years later, her mothe
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summer. The new sitter was from a g
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Zero Mostel, who was a very large m
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Lyn moved in with me. Life was good
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He said, "Please don't be angry wit
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estaurants. I made safe lights out
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We arrived at the falls and got a m
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agreed to meet at a bar in Manhatta
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Matthew seemed to know from the sta
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a little auto focus Olympus camera.
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her uncle. He had a very large plac
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My watermelon heart broke. I ran an
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I answered a used car ad in the pap
Page 220 and 221: passed away shortly after surgery.
Page 222 and 223: emained close friends, but Jim beca
Page 224 and 225: difficult to keep people when you c
Page 226 and 227: together. We then voted on the vari
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Page 230 and 231: inhaled. I was hooked within a week
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Page 234 and 235: carrying Christopher in her arms. L
Page 236 and 237: me what happened." Before we finish
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Page 240 and 241: the night on the eastern end of Pen
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Page 244 and 245: One of my new employees was fromCal
Page 246 and 247: made themselves at home. They were
Page 248 and 249: I had saved a supply cabinet that h
Page 250 and 251: This is not just a credit union; th
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Page 254 and 255: kids happy in the process. Within a
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Page 260 and 261: was a bit stunned, but from that ti
Page 262 and 263: Baldev Duggal, the founder and owne
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Page 268 and 269: Lyn's father's health was beginning
Page 272 and 273: We all knew that the Walshs would n
Page 274 and 275: My business was doing well, but our
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Page 280 and 281: friend had divorced his wife, quit
Page 282 and 283: that I needed. The computers did no
Page 284 and 285: There was an article in The New Yor
Page 286 and 287: one so many times. He asked for my
Page 288 and 289: Lynne was not overjoyed at the pros
Page 290 and 291: After each fight, we would then arg
Page 292 and 293: Business was good. Lynne and I deci
Page 294 and 295: dropped dead that night. I would ha
Page 296 and 297: Alex Vadell was also a master. Soon
Page 298 and 299: ignored each other, but the dogs ne
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Page 302 and 303: end. I always had Michele as an exc
Page 304 and 305: ecome more aware of the extent of d
Page 306 and 307: had no difficulty in figuring out t
Page 308 and 309: From what I could gather, at thebeg
Page 310 and 311: garbage dumps that still had used c
Page 312 and 313: Theatre Row tenants. As of July 198
Page 314 and 315: Lynne and I had a wonderful time in
Page 316 and 317: By the end of the first week of Jud
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disorder was out of remission. She
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During the rehearsal, most of theau
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esponse, and we walked up Eighth Av
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space. Do they understand the fact
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six months. How could I turn down a
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went to get something to eat. When
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Lynne and I didn’t fully apprecia
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"My department at Lehman Brotherssp
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Make sure our film recorder can dow
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other times when I thought that I w
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there was no slide work, he could d
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the marriage was over? Kaput? I hop
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As large as this new apartment was,
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We, of course, would then go to the
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seem to me to show a lack of faith.
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later in hope that I would be aslee
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I couldn’t help but think how sad
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from the rental of the co-op, and I
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my arm down so fast that I had no t
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Shannon and Jeff told me about a sh
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mentioned that I did not have room
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floors, cleaned the bathrooms and t
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interested because there was not mu
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from old Theatre Magazines from the
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362
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laid off twenty-five percent of the
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But as much as I love Lyn, my child
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More MemoriesWhen I told Barry LaVi
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Alice Davies. Cliff Ammon telling m
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High School RomanceI hope I didn't
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to evaluate the speed and angle of
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I told my friend that it was a part
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Paris with The Paper Bag Players. H
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happy about their streets being fil
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HeresyForty-five years after my cal
show all

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