1973: Early Applause

1973 held all of life's possibilities before me. I had graduated high school in 1972 and begun theatre school in the fall. That August, I had left behind my lover -- a married woman more than twice my age -- back in my hometown of Cornwall, assuming our romance had run its course. But that would prove naïve. We really were that in love.

Theatre school presented more complications than I had bargained for, and within three months I had flown off to Montreal to start anew, landing on the doors...