ABSTRACT
I began my career in theater in the best Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney movie fantasy tradition. At 11, my best friend, my younger sister, Vicki, and I mounted a theatrical revue in my parents’ living room with a cast of other neighborhood kids. We played piano, lip-synched records, recited poetry and danced for our parents. My older sister, the poet Cheryl Clarke, was our stage manager. This singular production led to an audition with The Children’s Theater of Washington and a lead part in The Merry Pranks of Tyll. I continued with The Children’s Theater through high school, took piano lessons and performed in school productions.
