I have been in the Cook Lions Club since July, 2011. I joke I almost did not join the Lions Club because I was now known as Lion Jim and my mother taught me never to be a lyin’. I have been acting in the Cook Lions Club Melodrama since 2012. This year I was not needed as an actor and I am the prompter for the four shows.
There is more to prompting then just sitting there waiting for the actors to mess up and then read to them their lines. A good prompter attends practices and gets to know the idiosyncrasies of the actors and which lines they always forget and need clues to remember the lines. The prompter never has an opportunity to fool around when not on stage as the actors can when not on stage. One also needs to be patient when helping the actors know or remember their lines. Sometimes the improvisation is fine and sometimes it needs correction when a certain word or words need to be spoken in order for the next actor’s line to make sense or be even funny. The prompter’s job is very important because the job is to help the actors look good. The less the audience notices me the better. The play and entertaining the audience is the most important thing that night of the production.
I have decided I have spent my whole life as a prompter. I prompted my children in their studies, sports, activities, and play times. I prompt my congregation on living out the Ten Commandments and being children of God. On Sundays I prompt their prayer life and reading of scripture.
