Background: As a founding member of Oakland Community Theater, I've always enjoyed helping out on stage or behind the scenes. The annual melodramas performed in Oakland attract people from around southern Oregon, and I hope to be back on stage one day soon! This column was originally published July 11, 2007, while I served as editor of the Winston Reporter.
I hadn't worn make-up on my face since Thursday, February 8th. When you're a guy, one keeps track of such things.
February 8th was the last on-air day I spent at KOBI-TV: I had concluded Thursday evening with my four-part series on truck driving, the last story that I did at the station. I haven't been subjected to the bright lights of a studio since then; Thus, no need to wear make-up.
However, fortunate for me, I never discarded the unused container of Max Factor "pancake mix" make-up that I had worn at KOBI-TV. I found myself smearing the water-based substance on to my face once again, Thursday evening, June 28, for the dress rehearsal of Oakland Community Theater's (OCT) latest production, The Code of the West.
Over the years, I have heard advice from many make-up consultants: Wear lipstick to accentuate the lips; Use a white shade make-up for the eyelids to set apart deeply-recessed eyeballs; Apply some rouge on the cheek; Use both powder and make-up to provide a more natural look.
No thank you to all of the above. Just give me the "bronze 2, tan 5" shade of Max Factor pancake mix any day, and I'll be content. The News-Review was gracious enough to travel to Oakland and write an article on The Code of the West for their Thursday Currents insert. I was impressed: a reporter, a photographer, and a videographer all showed up to one of our practices! I may have felt awkward wearing pants that were two sizes too big, but at least I could feel comfortable about my make-up!
In past years, I had seen some unfortunate men on the front cover of Currents, who looked like lipstick was the only type of make-up they had used: bright rosy-red lips cast against a pale white face.
Rule number one when applying make-up for men on stage: If you're going to darken the lips by using lipstick, then equally darken (not lighten!) the cheeks and the rest of the face. It doesn't make any sense to darken one part of a man's face that isn't normally colored (the lips), and then lighten the rest of the face. Unless, perhaps, the guy is appearing in drag in the Rocky Horror Picture Show?
The Code of the West is the fourth melodrama performed by Oakland Community Theater since 2002. The other three were Rustlers of Red Rock, (the sequel) Rustlers Revenge, and The Scoundrel of Dagger Gulch.
Some of the more seasoned actors (this was my first-ever play since the seventh grade) weren't sure what to expect. One actor said if we pulled in 40 people a night, he'd be happy.
Well, we did much better! In fact, opening night, Friday, June 29, was reportedly a record opening night for the theater group: 97 people purchased tickets to see the melodrama inside the historic Washington School Gymnasium in Oakland. About 60 people came to Saturday's play, and Sunday's matinee (normally a sleeper crowd) was somewhere in the middle of the first two nights! Well over 200 patrons came during the first weekend: All six shows during both weekends each brought in more than 40 people. The stuffed hog's head falling off the wall of the "Red Hawg Saloon" during Saturday night's performance had to be the highlight of all the shows.
I urgently pleaded with other OCT members to move next year's schedule ahead one month to late May and early June. No, that wasn't possible because the school district used the gym for athletic events until the middle of June. So, we would just have to take our chances and endure the sweltering heat that sometimes arrives one month later.
What about the make-up? Fortunately, pancake mix usually doesn't run, unless a person absent-mindedly wipes their brow. However, I'll probably have to purchase another tin of it, if I'm in a production next year. At eight or nine dollars a crack, it ain't cheap, but it's still considerably lower than upscale designer make-up that's pushed by the consultants.
Hey, I just thought of something. KOBI-TV paid for my make-up, since it was a business expense, which means the television station paid for me to wear make-up during The Code of the West!
Does that mean I owe them a refund for the original portion of the make-up tin that I had when I left their employment? As long as they don't find out about it, perhaps it's just as well to "let sleeping dogs lie," as the character Jesse Faultin would say in The Code of the West.
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