Stour Treq: A Musical in Search of a Key
| Convention skit | |
|---|---|
| Title | Stour Treq: A Musical in Search of a Key (Strange New Con: The Musical at SeKwester*Con Too) |
| Author(s) | Paula Smith |
| Date(s) | 1977 |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Stour Treq: A Musical in Search of a Key was a con skit by Paula Smith.
It was performed at SeKwester*Con, Too in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Saturday night, May 28, 1977, as part of the after dinner entertainment.
Publications and Commentary
- the transcript of this skit, along with illos by Gordon Carleton, was printed in Eel-Bird Banders' Bulletin #2 (December 1978)
- Winston Howlett writes about this play and his role as Uhura in I Didn't Know Uhura Had a Cleft in Her Chin! (February 1978)
The Original Cast
- Kirk = Connie Faddis
- Spock = Joyce Yasner
- McCoy = Paula Block
- Scotty = Sharon Ferraro Short
- Rand = Mike Short
- Uhura = Winston Howlett
- Sulu = Lori Chapek
- Chekov = Cindy Myers
- Chapel = Stephen Clark
- Kong = Nancy Hillman
- Kutie = David Manship
Description
From Joyce Yasner, who portrayed Spock in the play:
I first saw the script for Stour Treq at Connie Faddis' house over New Year's, so that is the time from which I first date my involvement in the nutsy thing. Paula Smith and Paula Block were also visiting Connie at the time, and with a herd — or is that horde? — of Pittsburgh fen over for the New Year's Eve party, we read, sang, and laughed our way through it for our own amusement. A few weeks later, Connie recruited me to play Spock for the performance at Se-Kwester*con. (At least I think that's when she recruited me. I may have gotten grabbed at the party. I was too far out of it at the time to remember.) Anyway, a quick look at the list of fen playing the roles will reveal there wasn't much opportunity for us to rehearse together, al though we did get in a couple of run-throughs at the con itself. (Not having any one to rehearse with, I, of course, picked on the nearest suckers I could find, and regaled Devra Langsam, Barbara Wenk, and anyone else foolish enough to get caught alone with me with my version of the songs.) A few weeks before the con, Connie wrote to let everyone know that Paula Smith would be playing the. piano for us. I was happy with this news, since I'm not the greatest singer in the world and wasn't at all sure I knew the tunes for the songs I was singing. Paula, however, had practiced the songs in keys alien to the majority of us, so we elected to sing a cappella anyway.
The room where the banquet was held was very crowded — the only vacant spot available was the space' behind the table on the committee dais--so we set up the stage there. Winston Howlett, whose play,. Where No Man Has Gone Lately, was also performed that night, brought the props we used for Spock's and Uhura's stations: little cardboard boxes wired with Christmas tree lights that blinked on and off. Spock's station also got a slide viewer-cum-sensor hood. The navigator and helmsman made do with sitting at the table on the dais and playing with the little plastic do-jiggers the cream was served in. Connie had a boater and cane. (Mary Ann Walther donated the cane and, I believe, the boater, too.) There were also two flashlights and last, but not least, a small wooden frame that looked like it had once held a mirror which served as the viewscreen in which Kong and Kutie appeared.
Costumes ranged from the elaborate—Winston Howlett, playing Uhura, came in "full drag: false breasts, a wig, and a uniform dress—to the not-so-elaborate—Connie Faddis, playing Kirk, wore a beige nylon shirt with the command insignia and braid stapled on, a pair of black knit pants, knee socks, and a pair of beat up old sneakers. (Joan Winston informed Connie that Kirk wouldn't be caught dead in such atrocious footwear; he'd wear Adidas.)
Special thanks go to Stephen Clark, who allowed himself to be recruited at the last possible moment to play Chapel, then freaked me out by carrying me offstage at the end of the play. How Stephen, a very skinny man, managed this Tarzan-like feat will remain a mystery for many years.
