I've had it up to my......whatever

I have trouble remembering lines

     It's no secret.  Every director, every actor, I have worked with points that out to me.
     I get it.
     When Terry C and I did a Tuna show, I had a line:  "I've had it up to my ass with the sorry excuse for a town and some body's gonna pay."  I knew the line cold.  Come opening night, I can't remember what I have had it up to!
       The line became up to my neck and you'll be sorry; up to here and you'll see what happens, and a variety of other forms of the line.
     TC knew I was going nuts.  He said my eyes would roll up in my head and I would get a panicked look on my face whenever I had to do that line.  I just blanked.
     Another show I had to hide my two line entrance on the back of a couch in big letters because I could not remember it.  Six weeks of rehearsal, and those two words would not come out.
     I admit I used notes.  In an Escanaba show, I read a magazine on stage.  That had my lines in it and the cue lines.  Whenever we got to them, I'd close the magazine and deliver the lines.
     I had them pasted on a table once.  Not the entire line, but which character I was and which character I was talking to.
     I have put them on the walls back stage to read, hidden them in stage props....in other words, I have used every opportunity I can find to make sure I get the lines straight.
     In the Trib today they had an article about how actors memorize lines.  Angela Lansbury uses an earpiece, and someone tells her the line and she says it.  Of course, she is about 110 years old.
     Other actors keep reading the lines over and over and over and over.....until they get hem.
     One person sang their lines, and I had someone else tell me that was a good way.  But it doesn't seem to work with me.
     Another suggestion was to work on a line and take a nap.  That way the brain can absorb the material.
      I'm all for taking naps, but I have a lot of lines to learn!  I'd be like Rip Van Winkle by the time the play starts!
     So I am doing what seems to work for me.  I have Jackie read lines with me.  On some of the larger speeches I have been recording them and saying them as they play.  I have also done pure memorization and taking a nap, although the nap wasn't planned.
     In any case, I still have a ways to go.
     And miles to go before I sleep.
     Wait, I memorized that in eighth grade!!
      Holy crap it's gonna be a long July....