Actor's Blog

Nashville Children's Theatre is excited to share with our audiences what it is like to be an actor at NCT. Each show of NCT's 75th Birthday Season will offer a different actor's perspective on being in a show and the work and fun that goes into the preparation and performance.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Blog by Evelyn Blythe

Posted on Wednesday, March 13, 2007

Hello, Folks!

My name is Evelyn Blythe, and I play Anne Hatcher - better known as "Mom" - in NCT's current production of TALES OF A FOURTH GRADE NOTHING.

Playing mothers is nothing new to me. Over the years, I've had the privilege of playing Jack's mam in JACK AND THE WONDER BEANS, Wiley's mammy in WILEY AND THE HAIRY MAN, Juliet's mother in ROMEO AND JULIET, Roo's mama in WINNIE-THE-POOH and THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER, and Laura Ingalls' ma in both A LITTLE HOUSE CHRISTMAS and in Laurie Brooks' beautiful A LAURA INGALLS WILDER CHRISTMAS. I've also played Tiny Tim's mum in A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Mowgli's mother in THE JUNGLE BOOK, Meg and Charles Wallace's mother in A WRINKLE IN TIME, Lilly's mom in LILLY'S PURPLE PLASTIC PURSE, Rapunzel's birth mother in RAPUNZEL, Peter Van Daan's mutter in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, and Emily Webb's mother in OUR TOWN. Two seasons ago, I played the mother of all literary mothers - Bambi's - in BAMBI: A LIFE IN THE WOODS, and last summer I played my saddest mother ever - Lady Macduff - in MACBETH.

So that brings me back to my current mom, Anne Hatcher, and what makes her different from any of the others. The difference is simple - Anne Hatcher is a realistic modern mom. She laughs with her family, she worries about them, she gets completely frazzled in the company of too many three-year-olds, and when she loses her temper with her son, she apologizes to him for it.

At one point during rehearsals for this show, I wondered if I were doing enough with my character - could there be something I was missing in there? That night, I got to watch a family in a restaurant who had FOUR boys with them, ranging in age from 9 or 10 down to about 2 or 3, and I observed how the mother dealt with the spilled drink, the fussy toddler, and the kid who refused to eat. BINGO! I no longer had any doubts about whether or not Anne Hatcher would ring true.

The mom I watched that night dealt with everything that happened with an underlying sense of both calm and humor that I had already felt in my time with Peter and Fudge.

When we're out in the world, we can pretend to be whoever we want. But when we're with family, we're with the people who have made us feel prouder and sadder and angrier and safer and more disappointed and more loved and more frustrated than anybody else will ever be able to make us feel. When we're with family, we have to be ourselves. They won't let us get away with anything less. And Anne Hatcher is nothing less than what her family knows her to be.

Whether I'm chasing after Fudge in the park, or trying to maintain my sanity during a birthday party, or waiting by the phone for news from the doctor - I feel a great connection with Anne Hatcher. She's a mother I see all the time. And she's a mother these boys are lucky to grow up with.

I love the Hatcher family. I know the Hatcher family. And in this show, I believe you'll recognize them, too.

Evelyn

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