The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-08-06
The Actress
A Story.
4 Story.

performance aroused tine noisy deIght OF ner au-
dience. The people never called this small golden
haired woman other than "our actress" In no one
else could they find such truth and sincerity.
Once the mistress of a large estate and rich
mansion during the years of revolution she had
passed through all stages of hardship and now, hav
ing charmed her guests with her voice and
grace, she decided to employ her talents to earn
bread and avert death by starvation. The value
of money however, fell before her arrival and for
two or three roubles she sang three performances
night in cheap cabarets and, for lack of dressing
rooms, awaited her turn in dirty little corridor be-
hind the stage.
She could not adapt her sef-respect to these peo-
pie who had lost all conscience, who were entirely
Indifferent to how they earned their living Earn
ing sometimes two and half roubes a week, she
reached the stage where she dreaded meeting
quantances and never went out in the street to
avoid passing the bakeries with their bold displays
of pastry.
At last she had no powder left. With feeling of
shame she used tootxpowder instead and, unable to
send her clothes to laundress she carefully locked
the door and washed her lingerie in a soup tureen.
When she had only one chemise left, she clumsly
made herself another from pillow case. The
of tooth-powder instead of face powder, however,
caused her suffering than hunger and lack of
clothes. She did not know why herself. Her chief
consolation in this trying time was religion. Such
is her recent past.
When told that the old life would never return,
that she must somehow adapt herself to the new,
she could feel nothing but horror What would it
mean-to adapt oneself to the new life? 1t would
not to believe in Cod to spit the floor, to
have dirty finger nails and to take other peoples
mansions away. No, better death than that. What
could be attractive in this life which required neither
the tender eegies of Tschakowsky the delicate
feminine hands developed by centuries of care,
that appealing helplessness which had captivated
her friends in the old days She could offer nothing
c1bsfit I1fo for tho cpulH pI1nh Sba
might wish it with all her heart, which kind
and loving
Then sudden change. A black hairy man gave
her pantomime called 'Insurrection and from that
time smiled upon her. She did not know
herself why her acting aroused such enthusiasm.
She acted simply and naively she lived She
did not know any other way. But Invariably she
felt every person in the hall hold his breath when
she appeared. Perhaps it because she expressed
her mood not in words but in movements. Perhaps
she made deep impression bcSause this small
had a frai tender body and the innocent,
truthful eyes of child. Perhaps both together.
The fact remains that the impression produced by
her acting always ineffaceably deep. Such a
transmission of mood to others could be effected only
by one who had experienced all she psrtraying.
Working people sensitive to execution They
Immediately detect fasity and insincerty when a
cultured actor pronounces their ordinary words in
his trained, cultivated tones words which in reality
tvated In such interpretations they artificial
ity. But a working class audience is also conde-
scending. 1t laughs and appauds generously even
when everything is not going well. That's what the
stage is for it isn't really happening so we can't
take it seriously "Stil, they try to please u.s." And
they generous to the poorest performer.
When, however, someone gives them genuine art,
they recognize it at and there is different
ring to their applause.
In the hall, all who had not yet the play,
were wondering how this small would, with
her dancing, interpret the instruction. You would
think that whole crowd would be required How
could she do it alone?
The curtain goes up The program begins
First came the singers, in peasant costume, with
new bast shoes. They sang, swinging their arms,
dancing their national dances, during which the di-
shevelled red wig of the peasant boy in the unnat
urally clean shirt and new, shoes, slipped
off, showing black hair at the back and because he
did not notice tit very funny. His earnest
endeavors aroused the pity Of the audience.
"It isn't easy for him to his living" thought
each.