Editor’s note: Jennifer Harker has been covering arts and entertainment for years for The Mirror, but this time she brings a different perspective as she goes behind the scenes with the Huronia Players.

It all started out innocently enough.

I planned to attend an audition of Huronia Players, the long-running community theatre group, to gather some background flavour for upcoming stories. Over the past several years, I’ve written plenty of pieces about the Players as they inch ever closer to the goal of a permanent theatre home.

By next year, that dream should be a reality.

So several weeks ago I found myself watching people pick up scripts, stand up and ‘read for a role’.

I had taken a seat behind longtime Player Sue Cook, assistant director for Bathroom Humor, the show being cast. I hoped to see the room from her perspective – and, of course, peer over her shoulder to read any notes she and the director Doug Ironside made.

Sue kept turning around urging me to step up and try it out. I politely declined. Repeatedly.

Although the idea of performing on stage has swirled in my brain for years, easy excuses always came up – I’m too busy, the kids are too small, I have too many projects on the go, work is crazy, I’m not ready, I just don’t have the time.

Towards the end of the evening, Sue encouraged me to read a scene with her just to see what it was like. I reluctantly agreed and felt a bit odd crossing the imaginary boundary between stage and seats.

Suddenly, the director snagged the script out of Sue’s hand and said he’d do the scene with me. It was a bit weird. After reading, Doug pulled me aside and asked if I was doing it for a lark or whether I’d consider coming back to read for a role for real.

The next morning, while walking our girls to school, we talked over the idea. I told them I was nervous and admitted I was a little scared. I said while I’d contemplated trying acting I wasn’t sure I was ready or would even like it if I happened to be cast.

Enter the annoyingly wise wisdom of youth. “But Mum, you always tell us to face your fears,” they kindly offered. “You say you have to try something first to know if you like it.”

Spawn of the devil, I thought, as if they actually listen when I talk and, as if they can repeat it to me, at the appropriate moment.

Hence, to set a good example, I must face my fears. I did return to read for a role and was cast as the lascivious office assistant. I now find myself on the brink of taking the stage as Babette in Bathroom Humor in just a few short, very rapidly approaching days.

As for liking it, the jury is still out on that one. For years, I’ve sat comfortably in the seats fairly unaware of the total commitment involved in putting a production together. I’ve seen the end result, but rarely glimpse the madness leading up to it.

Things like a bare set that is transformed piece-by-piece, week by week to a useable reality and costumes that have been carefully created, sewn, re-sewn and fixed again. Props collected, maintained and perfectly placed ready for the actor to grab them as they go on stage.

Lights artfully aimed, and readjusted countless times. Sound cues and music reworked time and again. I marvel at the skill available in our community, all the volunteers who give hours of time to make the magic happen.

While in theory pretending to be someone else is fun, the reality of learning lines and delivering them on time, in exactly the right place with the correct expression, facing the right way with a believable pace and volume is quite another. The learning curve has been steep and there have been many, many times I’ve caught myself in the mirror and my brain has screamed back at my stressed face “what were you thinking?”

I’ve felt foolish, inadequate and overwhelmed watching the experienced actors I’ve enjoyed being entertained by over the years easily slip into their roles, transforming before me.

Letting go of your sense of self to find someone else inside, someone you really don’t like, has been an interesting journey, with plenty of potholes along the way. One night I had an emotional meltdown. So frustrated, so out of my element, so uncomfortable, so angry I cry while talking to the director.

I go home, pull myself together and rationalize this can’t be that hard. Hard is waiting while the cardiologist carefully scrutinizes the echocardiogram of your infant daughter, anxiously and powerlessly awaiting his verdict, knowing her life hangs in the balance. I survived that and many other perilous parenting moments, so I can do this.

With great support from Dave, who now knows the play like the back of his hand (we do lines over and over again – while making supper, while driving in the car, while walking, while drinking coffee, while the kids play) – I go on.

And finally, straying around the corner of my eye, I catch glimpses of this new creature. She’s not whole yet, but there are moments when I can feel Babette and she seems almost real.

The posters are starting to go up around town advertising the upcoming show. And, yes, that really is yours truly peering out of the poster. As you might imagine the show centres around a bathroom where a crazy cast of characters works together, gossips, shares secrets, meets lovers, argues, seduces and, of course, provides plenty of laughter for audiences.

If you’ve always wanted to take in a Huronia Players show, now is the perfect time to see how my journey ends.

Bathroom Humor is on stage at The Studio on William Street in Midland at 8 p.m. on Jan. 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31, and Feb. 1 and 2 with 2 p.m. Sunday matinees are on Jan. 20 and 27.

Tickets are $18 for adults ($15 for seniors for the matinees) and are available through the box office at the North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Centre in Midland. The box office is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week or call 526-9395.