Longtime Notre Dame musical director reflects on 50 years

Everybody has been saying Notre Dame Regional High School's next musical is Cindy King's final production and it's not easy for her to hear.

The former English teacher and current musical director is wary of all absolutes, including the words "last," "first," "always" and "never." But after 50 years of service, one could be forgiven for feeling that she's been a part of Notre Dame forever.

"I'm having trouble processing the end because I've spent 50 years of my life here, morning, noon, night and weekends doing theater and teaching. I'm just starting to realize how long it's been."

The retiring director remembered being 23-years-old, fresh out of college, when she thought she "knew everything about everything." Her directorial debut, a production of "Fiddler on the Roof" performed in the spring of 1973, did little to spoil her optimism.

"It was incredible. It was wonderful. I still remember the feeling of, 'Oh, my gosh I did this, look at what I did,' but I learned very quickly to change that to, 'look at what we did.'"

Notre Dame Regional High School's Cindy King directs her performers from a desk facing the stage during Thursday's practice of the school's spring musical "Once Upon a Mattress." The April show will bring the curtain down on King's career at Notre Dame.Michael Leifer ~ mleifer~semissourian.com

Though humbled by the years, King never lost her sense of, "Oh, my gosh," perhaps because she grew up in a time when college was not the default choice for a woman.

"I'm not one of those people who grew up thinking, 'I want to be a teacher' ... in my time women became wives and mothers. The late 1960s was the first time southeast Missourians started saying girls can go to college."

For many years, King saw herself as a homemaker-in-training, "not a theater person at all."

King's love affair with theater really began in college. She graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a degree in speech and theater and became particularly fond of theater's technical side, putting productions together from the ground up.

"I loved all things about scene and lighting design," she said. Naturally attracted to directing, King recalled witnessing a great performance in her youth and thinking, "Wow, I wish I could direct that."

She did.

The same young man who impressed her went on to play the lead in King's first musical production.

But King sees everyone, not just the stars, and has left pieces of her heart in every performer who has graced her stage.

"I know these people, they're still in my vocabulary. I remember them and those memories will never go away," she said.

Although King is honored by recognition, she also expressed mild discomfort.

Cindy King has been teaching and directing performances at Notre Dame Regional High School for 50 years. She enjoys working with the students on and off the stage.Michael Leifer ~ mleifer~semissourian.com

"Every teacher here is working as hard as I am, so it's hard for me to be singled out. I feel for those teachers who are up all night grading papers. They never get their name in a newspaper."

Gesturing toward her head, King said her "hard drive is full."

But she has an incredible memory of people and places. She even remembered the profession of performers' parents.

When the time comes to take a picture with her students, King automatically positions herself on the far corner. She is surprised when asked to stand front and center.

When the cast assemble around King for their usual prayer-circle, it's every voice that resounds and every hand that's bound. King leads from the front. She places herself within the ranks of her students, not above them.

King's upcoming production, "Once Upon a Mattress," will have a four-night run at 7 p.m. April 7 through 10 at Notre Dame Regional High School.