Some of the Cuckoo's Nest gang after an afternoon of apple picking in Chester with director Peter Lockyer. (From L - Solomon Landerman, Jonathan Fielding, Andrea Maulella, and Neal Mayer), photo by Peter Lockyer.
by Neal Mayer
I haven’t really spent a lot of time bicycling in the past ten years… well, twenty… okay, make it THIRTY years, but I’ve become obsessed with biking all over Middlesex County since arriving for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” on October 20. When Company Manager Beverley Galpin drove us up to our actor housing in Centerbrook, I immediately noticed the three bicycles awaiting us on the porch. What could be better? Crisp fall weather, spectacular New England foliage, and a bike to explore it all. I took a quick tour of the house, dropped my luggage in the room where I’d be staying for the next five weeks, and went out to choose my bike.
One of the bikes seemed about the right size for me, but why didn’t it have a bar running across the top? Ah, yes, that was a GIRL’S bike – a design idea left over from when women used to bicycle in long skirts over a hundred years ago. Well, you wouldn’t catch me ridin’ no girlie bike around Ivoryton! No sir, I may be dealing with sexual identity issues on stage as my “Cuckoo’s Nest” character, Dale Harding, but on the backroads of Middlesex County, I was determined to find the Lance Armstrong that was buried deep inside me.
The next bike looked sleek, cool and even had that top bar so everyone would know I was on a MAN’S bike. I tried it out, but the seat was a bit uncomfortable. I attempted to adjust the seat, but it wouldn’t budge. The bolt – I think you call it a bolt – was missing and apparently I’d need some kind of tool kit to adjust it. Note to Self: Bring tool kit to next out-of-town housing. Note to Self #2: Learn how to use tools in tool kit before going to next out-of-town housing.
On to Bike #3. This one seemed to be just right. Comfortable, the perfect size for my frame, and it had that he-man bar! I hopped on the bike and decided to take a short ride up to see the Ivoryton Playhouse for the first time.
Although I started to hear an odd sound coming from the back of the bike, I ignored it by as I spotted the cottage-like theater framed by rows of shrub roses.
Once inside, I was awed by the framed photos of celebrities that have played the theater including Katherine Hepburn, Alan Alda and Helen Hayes. I was very excited to be part of the long history of the Ivoryton Playhouse.
I hopped back on the bike and started up a nearby hill, and then decided to embrace my inner ten-year-old by turning around and racing down the hill. That’s when the tire exploded, and I wound up in a ditch. Note to Self #3: Check tire pressure before mounting a new bike. The walk back to Centerbrook took a lot longer, but it was still beautiful.
The next day, after a very productive first day of rehearsal, I decided to go back to Bike #2 – sleek, cool with a saddle that became much easier to deal the longer I rode it. I opted to bike up to Chester, since I had worked at the Norma Terris Theater there 16 years before in a production of “Starcrossed: The Trial of Galileo.” The ride through Deep River was stunning, and Chester was just as I remembered it. And even though I was involved in a terrible Sweater Accident (I decided to zip up my turtleneck sweater while riding down a hill. Don’t try it. It involved some blood loss and odd marks on my neck that either looked like I tried to cut my throat or I was the recipient of a gigantic hickey), I was now hooked.
In the past three weeks, I have biked almost every single day. I’ve made numerous visits to Old Saybrook, Westbrook, Essex, Deep River, East Haddam,and Clinton. And a few of those times, I’d leave the theater on my bike so focused on what we had just rehearsed that I was unaware that I had put on my bicycle helmet backwards and looked just like an escapee from a mental institution.
I may not be Lance Armstrong, but I am having the time of my life seeing the glory of Connecticut during the fall. How lucky am I that I get to be part of an extraordinary play, work with wonderful actors who also happen to be so much fun and so NICE, and explore all that Ivoryton and its surroundings have to offer?
