On the stage and behind the scenes

REBECCA –
Have you ever stood side by side with a 7-foot, 1200-pound camel looking you in the eyes and realize you are the one holding the rope? ...Yep, that there is a life experience!

BIRDIE –
We had to have animals on stage – camel, sheep, donkey, a horse. So, we made arrangements to lease animals from the Lazy Five Ranch in Mooresville, NC. It was Rebecca’s job to go pick them out because I was preoccupied with sound installation.

REBECCA –
As the guide drove around, looking at their animals, I picked a few generic sheep – I mean, it’s hard to tell one sheep from another, a generic camel...

BIRDIE –
The man says to Rebecca, “That cow right there has been in a movie!” So...

REBECCA –
People! Who doesn’t want a famous cow on stage!?

BIRDIE –
July 6, 1997 there was an early morning call from Lora.

REBECCA –
Chapter 17 of this story, you read Lora’s story and how we first met her while working in Kentucky. She left everything and moved to South Carolina to help us. The Grand Hotel hired her but, when she wasn’t working her job, she spent every waking moment helping us.

BIRDIE –
Lynn (our one and only staff member) resigned to start a family. At the same time, the hotel where Lora worked closed. So, we hired Lora in 1997.

REBECCA –
Though she had a Master’s degree, she had no theater, business or office training at that time. Lora has since walked her way up through every rung of the NarroWay ladder and now serves second only to Birdie and me as the Theater Manager for NarroWay.

BIRDIE –
Back to the phone call...

REBECCA –
Lora went every morning and evening to check on and feed our leased animals. They boarded on a farm near the amphitheater.

BIRDIE –
That July morning when she called, there was excitement in her voice! “We have a baby!!!!” she shouted!

REBECCA –
Jessie, JP, Jehu – you may not know these guys, but these are the men in our lives. They aren’t the typical clean-shaven, handsome hunks with which many of you share life.

BIRDIE –
Nope, these were MUCH easier to train!

REBECCA –
Children... we love them, but they require time ...and food ...and money! And with the schedule we keep, there hasn’t been much time for social things or vetting husbands.

BIRDIE –
So, we got the next best thing to a man – a BASSET HOUND!!