Greensboro, NC, war stories

Greensboro always comes front and center during March Madness, always hosting games. And I knew this years ago when I took my one and only trip there. Their community theater company was doing my play Christmas at the Juniper Tavern and they flew me out for several days to see the opening and also to visit a number of colleges in the area and talk about playwriting. It was a good gig.

To my surprise, the theater was in the same huge complex as the basketball court -- so when I was asked what I wanted to do in town, the first thing I wanted to do was see the court! They found a janitor to open it up and I got to peek at the basketball court where I'd seen so many games on TV.

Later I also visited the memorial where the Greensboro sit-in at the lunch counter happened and also O. Henry's house. But the first thing was the March Madness court.

It was an amazing production because the actor playing Swami Kree was dying of cancer. On opening night, he decided scene by scene whether he had strength to come out or to pass to his understudy. He did over half the scenes and he died before the run was over. Given the content of the play, and the Eastern attitude toward death, this made for a pretty unique experience for all involved.

I remember a party with the actors when, as guest of honor, I was given the worm in a bottle of whatever it was called, like tequila. I took it but didn't swallow, figuring to spit it out later. Shortly afterwards I was talking to an actress and she suddenly screamed. One end of the worm was peeking out between my lips! There went my image as Mr. Cool.

It was a very good gig in Greensboro and a trip I'll always remember.