It starts with a script of inanimate words and a bunch of everyday folks who probably have never met. Weeks and countless hours later, the people have become characters and those words have developed into a living, breathing play.
Save for the artistic release and the audience's applause, the actors and people behind the scenes don't get paid.
Welcome to community theater -- a place where everyone makes themselves useful.
Based on volunteer help, community theater is a reflection of the people where you live. They are real estate agents, painters, police officers, social workers, veterinary technicians and retirees.
So if you're new to it, or wondering about it, don't consider it as the type of place where only veterans perform and experience is the norm. While seasoned actors may have an edge, area directors say it's okay to waltz in and see what happens.
"We love having new people," said Dottie Hughes, who often directs plays at the Little Theatre of New Smyrna Beach. "We always say, no experience is necessary."
Newcomers have a pretty good chance of getting a part in community theater, Hughes said. There may not be a newbie in every play, because it depends on the size of the cast, but there's also the possibility that they'll need your help elsewhere.
There's set building and stage management. Maybe you can sew or create a costume or help with sound. And once they see how reliable you are, they may never let you go.
Do You Want To Act?
If you're interested in acting, check out some of these playhouses to learn about upcoming auditions.
Your chance of acting, of course, depends on how well you fit the part and the director you're working with.
Kendra Blazi, a New Smyrna Beach High School drama teacher and occasional director at the Little Theatre, said she tries not to think ahead of who she will use for certain roles, a practice known as "precasting." "My personal take on it is, I want to see what you bring to the audition."
New people may likely get a smaller part, she said, "but you never know."
"We love, as directors, to go to auditions and see people that we've never seen before," Blazi said. "There could be that diamond in the rough that has never auditioned before."
Take Steve Ballesteros, for example.
The first time actor got the leading role as McMurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," a production of the Shoestring Theatre in Lake Helen.
Ballesteros is a painter by day, but has spent most nights for the last six weeks learning lines and co-starring with actors who've been in show business for more than 30 years. He's also lent his expertise, helping to paint the set alongside the director of the play, Sally Daykin.
Daykin, a Pine Ridge High School drama teacher, said everyone tends to lend a hand with whatever they're good at -- whether that's with sound effects or props.
In exchange for giving up nearly two months of their personal lives, they get the opportunity to bond with new people in an emotional, cathartic experience.
"You share chemistry between the audience and the actors on stage," she said. "It's something that you don't get at home watching the television or going to the movie theater."
Learning how to unicycle can leave you feeling like a hapless kid. It's awkward, alien and so unlike everything you are accustomed to on a bicycle. I thought it would be fun to challenge myself to do something new and kinda weird and learned that no matter what, you can't take yourself seriously when you're on one wheel. "You just gotta laugh at yourself and keep going," said my coach, Valeh Levy, a New Smryna Beach general radiologist.
Valeh got me on the saddle-- that's what unicyclists call it, not a seat--on a beautiful cool afternoon at the Cracker Creek Canoeing Property about a week ago. Her kids, who have been unicycling for a few months, where whirling through the woods. They made it look effortless.
Valeh prepped me for the test run with an instructional video from Unicycle.com. To my surprise, she also gave me an adventure documentary called "Into the Thunder Dragon," a video featuring hardcore unicyclists who rode the countryside and mountains of Bhutan, a remote Himalayan country.
I had no idea unicycling had gone "extreme."
Being one to cruise around on a rundown beach bicycle on weekends, unicycling on pavement alone would be as extreme as I'm probably gonna get.
For my first lesson, Valeh chose a wooden platform with a railing that led up to a small dock along Spruce Creek. That's right. A beginning unicyclist is just yards away from water.
After watching a young, seemingly goofy kid learn how to ride on the instructional video, I was a little worried about the crash factor.
Fortunately for me--but not so lucky for you--I don't have an embarrassing story or video to show you. Valeh held onto that unicycle saddle real tight and didn't let me take a tumble.
When you're just starting out, it's essential to have a railing or wall to hold onto. I dragged myself alongside the railing, not really amounting to much speed. It's hard enough to just trust yourself to sit all the way down.
"Go ahead, put all your weight on it," Valeh said. "Get used to it."
After a few minutes of sitting, it was time to peddle. I think I held my breath the whole time as I essentially dragged myself alongside the railing. Within minutes, I was sweating and could feel my abdominal muscles tightening.
"It's great for your core," said Valeh, who rode successfully without any support on her 49th birthday. She practiced for about a month.
A few days after my first lesson, I met with her and the rest of the Levy clan to try it again. This time, I tried it alongside next to her SUV as she walked alongside me for support.
Holding on to the side of the car for support wasn't as easy as holding onto a railing, but each time I lost control I found myself kind of falling forward, except it wasn't like I fell to the ground. It looked as if I stepped off.
So far, I've come away clean. No scrapes or bruises. Not even any embarrassment. (Of course there's also tons of padding available for beginning and extreme unicyclists, which her family uses).
Although it seems more dangerous than riding a bicycle, "unicycling is as safe as you make it," said Josh Torrans, who builds custom unicycles in Georgia for Unicycle.com.
Most of the time, you step off the unicycle.
"You make it as dangerous as you want," he said. "So if you have flat pavement, realistically you're not going to get hurt unless you fall backwards."
Plus, you can only go as fast as you can peddle.
The biggest physical hurdle is balance and that just seems to come with practice, according to Valeh's kids, Sydney, 12, and Bobby, 10.
"Some people have defeated themselves before they have even gotten started," Torrans said.
Dustin Kelm, a world champion unicyclist, said the tough learning curve has a lot do with the obscurity of the sport, not to mention that circus image. But it's grown a lot in recent years, he said, mentioning nearly 30 countries now compete in international events.
He recommends practicing daily to get a true feel for it.
After doing this story and seeing the Levys show off, I'm hoping I'll get it soon. We'll see how far I'll take it--maybe offroad, or at least a cool keg party trick.
(During my last visit, the Levy kids were riding on two-by-fours and their dad rode a "giraffe" model that put him on par with a basketball hoop).
It's going to take a lot more practice. Look out for updates soon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kelly Cuculiansky is a staff writer for Three8six.com and The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Her Kaleidoscope blog about trying new things and going to fun places runs weekly. Send ideas to kelly.cuculiansky@news-jrnl.com .
There's always the New Year's kiss, the excessive imbibing of bubbly, and the usual resolutions that you probably won't fulfill. But this Dec. 31 why not try a new tradition?
Here are a few more global good luck traditions that Goalsguy.com compiled.
BRAZIL: In Brazil the lentil is believed to signify wealth, so on the first day of the New Year they serve lentil soup or lentils and rice. In Brazil on New Year's Eve priestesses of the local macumba voodoo cult dress in blue skirts and white blouses for a ceremony dedicated to the goddess of water, Yemanja.
DENMARK: In Denmark it is a good sign to find your door heaped with a pile of broken dishes at New Years. Old dishes are saved year around to throw them at the homes where their friends live on New Years Eve. Many broken dishes were a symbol that you have many friends. New Year's Eve is framed by two important items broadcast on television and radio, respectively the monarch's New Year Speech at 6 p.m. and the striking of midnight by the Town Hall Clock in Copenhagen, which marks the start of the New Year.
ENGLAND: The British place their fortunes for the coming year in the hands of their first guest. They believe the first visitor of each year should be male and bearing gifts. Traditional gifts are coal for the fire, a loaf for the table and a drink for the master. For good luck, the guest should enter through the front door and leave through the back. Guests who are empty-handed or unwanted are not allowed to enter first.
Goalsguy is a Web site for New Year's Resolution week, as inspired by Gary Ryan Blair. According to the site, the annual event was founded on the premise that a single resolution can positively and profoundly create lasting change in your life and make the world a better place.
Or better yet, make one up. Of course, your new traditions can be as elaborate as you want them to be.
Hungry? A friend of mine adopted the Southern tradition of eating black eyed peas with pork jowls with collard greens.
From what I understand you will receive a day of good luck for each pea eaten. Collard greens symbolize folding money and pork or hog jowls represent prosperity.
In Italy, they eat lentils with spicy sausage and pork, yummy.
A Cuban coworker's parents dump a bucket of water in the yard to symbolize out with the old in with the new.
As a child my mom, who is from Colombia, watched family members crack eggs and drop the contents into a cup of water. The shape of the yolk would indicate what lay ahead.
Want to predict the future, but you don't have an egg? The Germans drop some molten lead in cold water to see how successful the next year will be.
Or you could take after the Argentineans and go swimming at the stroke of midnight.
If you can't afford to see the ball drop in Times Square, most of these international customs seem pretty easy to adopt, and I'm sure the countrymen/women won't mind.
Take this custom (literally, you can have it), for example:
For as long as I can remember, my mom and I would head to the grocery store in Miami just before New Year's Eve and purchase the prettiest grapes we could find. Purple or green, it didn't matter.
About 20 minutes before midnight she would dole out 12 seedless grapes to each person participating in the celebration.
We'd count down the seconds as the adults sipped champagne. At the stroke of midnight we'd all kiss and hug and gobble up our grapes.
She would always come check on me and say, "Did you eat all your grapes? Did you make your wishes?"
Each grape, or uva, symbolizes a month and an opportunity for a wish for the coming year.
Other countries, such as Spain and Venezuela, practice this too. In Peru, for example, they eat a 13th grape to assure good luck.
If you're not feeling fruity or hungry, there are more fun Colombian traditions to try.
You can wear yellow underwear for good luck, which some argue, must be given to you by someone else.
By the way, before you give your sweetie his or her first smooch of 2009, try saying Happy New Year in another language:
Hawaiin- Hauoli Makahiki hou Hebrew- Shana Tova Thai- Sawatdee Pi Mai French- Bonne année Spanish- Feliz año nuevo
Or you can grab a suitcase and walk around the block. "You don't put anything in the suitcase," my mom said. "You just go around the block with the suitcase if you want to travel that year."
Mami said people in Bogota, the capital city, did it all the time. Must have been strange sight seeing the neighbors rolling suitcase down the street--and yet, I plan on being one of those weirdoes in New Smyrna Beach. (I hope to go to Italy by August.)
In my father's opinion, only the rich people in Argentina could afford to go swimming. His tradition in Buenos Aires was simply: "party, party, party, and the next day at 6 a.m., breakfast."
"Nadie se acostaba," he said. (No one went to sleep). And although it seems to be a Colombian tradition, he too, admitted to wearing yellow underwear once for good luck. (I have no idea where a man would find yellow underwear, nor do I want to think of it further.)
This year, though, he'll also be rolling the suitcase through his barrio for the first time. If this works, we'll both be heading to Europe for the first time in 2009. Will we see you in Italy?
As the temperatures begin to dip into the 50s, it's becoming a great time of year to light up the night with an oceanside bonfire.
The Three8six crew had its inaugural fire last weekend, hoping for some jam sessions and new friends. We're happy to report we attracted three dogs and about 100 people that either stopped by for a little while, or stayed warm with us through most of Saturday night and the wee hours of Sunday.
Some folks taunted us with their instruments and didn't play, but by about midnight, people were finally into full groove. We had some fiddle-action, complemented by mandolin and guitar. (Special thanks to guest musicians and the members of Halifax Contraband, which graciously played fireside).
Our fire was nicely blazing with visitors on blankets and in camping chairs, not to mention that guy lying around who thought he was Borat incarnate and kept saying "This, I like!" ("Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation Kazakhstan") Marshmallows galore, of course, and some cold beer that probably made people need to stand closer to the fire.
All in all, we couldn't have hoped for a better time. No cops, no burns, and no worries.
So considering it was our first bonfire--and it went off without a hitch--we figured inquiring minds may like a "How To" guide.
Lessons learned:
- Check out the scene in advance. Depending on tides and the beach, you may not be able to drive on the beach to drop off your wood. This is when wheelbarrows and ramps become your best friends.
- If you want some homegrown music, you can't just expect musicians to come and play together. Elect a jam session leader. They need a leader to get started.
- Expect party crashers. Our Three8six event was public so no one was considered a "crasher," but we did have a mob of unattended children show up early in the night, just dying to throw wood on the fire and roast their own marshmallows. Without a parent in sight, we had to shoo them away.
People came from as far away as Orlando for my private bonfire this spring, surprisingly bringing me birthday presents--including some orange-flavored liqueur they probably stole form their parents ' cabinet. People from other nearby fires also stopped by, so we got to know some new folks.
- Be prepared to pick up after your guests.
- You're going acquire lots of free stuff that people forgot on the beach. Bonfires I've put together have yielded Columbia-brand flip-flops, a Beatles sweater, Smirnoff beer, and really nice beach towels.
Here's what you'll need: 1. Fire wood. (Tip: A cord is too much. And don't just grab any wood off someone's property. You need thoroughly dried wood.) 2. Starter logs and/or kindling 3. Camping chairs, old sheets or blankets to sit on 4. Lanterns or flashlights 5. Wheelbarrow to transport the wood and other supplies 6. Multi-tool or Swiss Army Knife (you never know) 7. Tables (not essential, but very nice to have) 8. Bucket for water collection and fire extinguishing 9. Trash bags 10.Lighter (sounds obvious but we had to go buy one 'cause we forgot)
Other helpful things to have: 1. Hot cocoa 2. S'mores supplies: graham cracker, marshmallows, chocolate 3. Recycle bins or designated bags for cans and bottles 4. Skewers or sharpened twigs to roast marshmallows or hot dogs 5. Pot of chili
Getting permission: Beach bonfires aren't permitted until after sea turtle season (May through October 31). Lights on the beach can disorient females trying to lay eggs and hatchlings trying to make it to sea. Let the authorities know your plans, to ensure you are doing it in the right place and no one shuts you down.
No matter where you're doing it, pick up all trash and be sure to extinguish the fire with water, not just sand. Burying burning embers in the sand has an oven-like effect and can and can burn unknowing passerby on the beach.
If you are in Volusia County, you have to be at least 18 years old to get a permit from the county Beach Patrol. It's free and easy. Call 386-239-6414, extension 230 to reserve a pit. They will need a copy of your driver's license and you'll need to fill out a form and drop it off or fax it back to them.
There are six beach fire pit locations, but some do not have parking. Tom Renick Park, 1565 Oceanshore Blvd. in Ormond - by - the - Sea, Cardinal Avenue beach approach in Ormond Beach, Frank Rendon Park, 2705 S. Atlantic Ave. in Daytona Beach Shores. Pits in New Smyrna Beach are at the Beachway Avenue approach, the North Beach Community Park off Sapphire Road, and the Hiles Avenue.Permit applicants are responsible for cleaning up trash and unburned wood. Officers inspect the site each night and violators will be contacted to return and clean up and may not be granted a permit again.
Volusia rules don't allow any beer or alcohol on the beach.
Fires must be contained. If you can't reserve a pit, you can have one in a fire bowl. It's not mandated, but Capt. Scott Petersohn said the Beach Patrol appreciates being notified of your fire and location in case nearby homeowners complain or report a fire.
The Fire Department of Flagler Beach also appreciates being notified of your fire location. Call 386-517-2010. The city doesn't provide fire pits and all fires must be contained.
You can bring a fire bowl or cut a drum in half to contain the fire. Fire Chief Martin Roberts requests fires be at least 100 feet away from the Flagler Pier to prevent problems with burning embers. The fire should not be higher than two feet from the sand.
"If it's very windy or if we get complaints about smoke, we're going to put it out," Roberts said.
Other things to note: According to the city's ordinance, consuming alcohol is only allowed on the sand in Flagler Beach. Large groups should notify the police department at 386-517-2020.
It starts with a script of inanimate words and a bunch of everyday folks who probably have never met. Weeks and countless hours later, the people have become characters and those words have developed into a living, breathing play. 
KELLY CUCULIANSKY, STAFF WRITER
