Nobody Likes a Quitter

Previous | Home | Next

I had the opportunity to perform in a short ensemble piece called Nobody Likes a Quitter written for Sunday afternoon vespers by Nicky Chavers, one of the shining talents of BJU's speech department. Life at BJU was hard compared to the freedom students could find at other universities in the sixties and seventies, and Nicky's piece was aimed at encouraging students to stick it out. It brought down the house. After this one section in which we all rhythmically side-stepped in and through each another like automatons as we mimicked the registration process, the audience applauded. Let me explain - no one applauds at Vespers. It's not because Vespers is so bad, it's actually quite nice. We were just not encouraged to applaud at religious programs.

But my favorite story about Nicky is this. He played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. I wasn't in the production but was the prompter at rehearsals. On the actual night of performance, as Tibalt and Mercutio were sword-fighting, Mercutio accidentally knocked the sword out of Tibalt's hand. If you're familiar with the story, you know this isn't how it's supposed to happen. Without breaking character, without breaking rhyme or meter, Nicky tossed the sword back to Tibalt with some taunt about this being too easy, and the scene resumed to its well-known conclusion.