Peggy and her sister Liz pestered me into trying out for a part in our local community thater's presentation of The Mousetrap. I was stunned to find that they offered me the part of Paravicini, and I've been having loads of fun with the part.

In the middle of I, ii Paravicini sits down next to this woman, leers at her, and says, "Now there was a young lady . . . " and the woman huffs and rushes off-stage. I said, "What is going on here?"

The director told us that this was the first line to a limerick, so at rehearsal last night I entered and sat down and said, "There was a young man from Nantucket." Even the director, who is a strict constructionist of plays, loved it. So I get to throw in a new limerick start every night. Even more fun is I get to change accents every time I appear on stage (my idea) to emphasize the fact that Paravicini is such a complete fake even he doesn't know who he is.


TEd