Playing Laguna

By Alexandra Bank McMahon

My earliest memory of Laguna Beach is of my mother driving me to Forest Avenue on a Saturday afternoon to audition for a Christmas play, staged by the Laguna Children’s Playhouse. The year was 1963 and I was in the fourth grade at Concordia Elementary School in San Clemente. I had never been to the theater and hadn’t a clue what a play was, but I could sense this was something important to my mother. In the second grade, I had been tested by the school psychologist and his finding was that I was intellectually gifted, but painfully shy, causing socialization challenges, so he suggested extra-curricular activities to my parents.

Thus began many hours of after school enrichment classes and various weekend lessons. I tried dance, music, arts and crafts, but none of them struck my fancy, so when mother spotted the Laguna Beach audition notice in the Daily Sun Post newspaper, she was willing to try anything. Since I was a good reader and had a photographic memory, she hoped I might have an affinity for acting.

When we entered the theater on the day of the auditions, it was chock full of children of all ages, who unfortunately all seemed to already know one another. The familiar feeling of intimidation overtook me. Mother suggested we sit in the back, probably thinking we could escape more easily that way, should I collapse in a dead faint. Two women were in charge and I learned they were called the director and the stage manager. The director would call names off of a sign-in roster, then the stage manager read a small section of the script at a time, opposite each child while the director made notes.

This happened a few times when Mother asked me if I understood the audition process. Understood? Of course I understood: I couldn’t wait to get up there to read! It was as if I had been doing this all my life. I innately knew exactly what to do. I felt as if I had come “home.”

Mother later shared with me that she was shocked at how confidently I walked on stage, smiled and began to read. After my audition, the director asked me to remain on the stage, because she wanted me to audition for another part. This time, I read a much longer script portion. I was enjoying myself immensely. The two ladies smiled and thanked me, then called my mother to the stage and in the wings, they began to grill her.

“Where has she studied?”

“Does she have an agent?”

“Who is her coach?”

“How long has she been acting?”

“What productions has she been in?”

My mother was dumbfounded. I had walked in there not knowing the meaning of the word “play,” but in a few short minutes I was being considered for the lead role. Mother tried to tell them this was my first trip to a theatre, my first experience ever with acting, that I was a very shy child and that they were hoping this experience would help bring me out of my shell. I’m not sure they believed her, but that day they had enough faith in my ability to cast me in the lead and thus started my lifelong love of the theatre.

Over the next few years, I performed in many shows at Laguna Children’s Theatre. Mother would drive me from San Clemente to Laguna Beach for endless hours of acting classes, rehearsals, wardrobe fittings and productions, but my favorite plays were always the Christmas shows. My dad and my sister would join mother to watch my play and then, afterward, we would all walk Laguna’s downtown streets, admiring the beautiful lights and fanciful Christmas decorations. It felt as if I left one production at the theatre and entered another one on the streets of Laguna, because it all looked like a fantasy land to my 9-year-old eyes.

Now, more than 50 years later, I feel so fortunate to be living in this lovely city and I still find it magical to stroll the downtown streets of Laguna Beach at Christmas time.

Bio: Alexandra Bank McMahon graduated with a degree in drama from UC Irvine and worked as an actress in her 20’s and 30’s. She recently retired from a 33-year sales career specializing in medical malpractice insurance. She lives in Three Arch Bay with her husband, Laguna Beach attorney Peter McMahon.