Quadsville

I forgot to post this on Tuesday. Here's the account of my flying adventure.

I weighed in at 125 pounds this morning, thanks to a little cheating that involved sweating out the fifth and final pound I had to lose to meet the weight requirement to fly like Peter Pan at Circa ‘21 Dinner Playhouse.

Before letting Quad-City area media representatives and their kids "fly" around stage, we watched a scene from the upcoming musical in which the actors showed us the ropes, quite literally.

I figured if the kids could do it, so could I. So I signed a waiver, strapped on my helmet camera (aka the "Stephanie-cam") and got strapped into the harness.

Stage flying isn't exactly effortless. There were two men backstage operating a pulley system to get me airborne. And I had to keep my shoulders back in order to keep from flopping over like a marionette. The harness, which fits a little bit like a jock strap on the lower body and a back pack on top, doesn't exactly provide a weightless feeling.

It exerted quite a bit of pressure on my rear end as it supported my body weight and made me think, "Oh, Lord, what have I gotten myself into?" when I was turned around so that my compressed rear end was on display for all to see as I swung from one end of the stage to the other.

Landing is also a little difficult since you have to come down on one foot. Otherwise, you feel as if you just might plant your face when you hit the ground with two feet and the harness tips you forward.

Just when I thought the adventure was over, Times Entertainment Editor David Burke, wielding a video camera himself, asked me what I thought. I answered that "flying" wasn't so bad because they didn't take me as high as I thought they might. I should have known not to open my big mouth while still strapped in, though, because my comment was taken as a dare and up I went to the rafters over the Circa ‘21 stage.

Overall, however, "flying" was fun, not too scary and I celebrated with a piece of much-awaited chocolate.