What is a home? Hopefully, it is a place of safety, a place of comfort, a place of growth, and yes, occasionally, a place of disagreement, but that’s a part of growth, isn’t it?
This is what the theater has been for me through the years.
When I was 11, in 1974 – a gay, withdrawn, chubby child, more comfortable with books and the arts than with the usual trappings of 11 year old boys – my mother, at the suggestion of a friend, dropped me off at Genesius Theatre, in my home town of Reading, PA.
Genesius was mounting an original Children’s production of “Peter Pan.” It was fitting that I was cast as a Lost Boy. But I wasn’t lost for very long. I found a life-saving second home.
There, among the other glorious misfits and square pegs, is where I spent the next 7 years. They were years spent watching, and learning from, tremendously talented people, some of whom would go on to professional careers, and some who were simply professional in their hobby. I learned everything I could from these people: acting; set design and construction; lighting; musical direction, and most importantly, how to be part of a greater goal. I learned that, and this is something that I try (sometimes successfully, oftentimes not) to communicate to younger actors, the more you know about all the aspects of theater, the better you will be at your specialty. I learned that theater is a living organism; each part, each specialty, as integral as the other. I learned skills that would keep me employed, in one aspect or another of theater for the next 40 years and counting.
In truth, Genesius saved my life, and gave me my life.
The foundation that Genesius gave me allowed me to have a long career in professional theater, a career of which that frightened 11 year old could never have dreamed.
Some career highlights in somewhat chronological order: Co-writing music for a children’s show for Barter Theatre; Master Electrician for the Montclair Theatre Fest under the direction of the legendary Phil Oesterman – which allowed me to work with Tommy Tune, Liliane Montevecchi, and Jerry Hall. That led to my first Off-B’way gig, running spotlight for “Blues In The Night” at the Minetta Lane Theatre. This led to numerous Off-B’way Master Electrician jobs, and to many backstage crew assignments. Crew highlights include the Pulitzer Prize winning “Other People’s Money” with Mercedes Ruehl, and “And The World Goes ‘Round,” directed by Scott Ellis, choreographed by Susan Stroman. I joined Actor’s Equity to Stage Manage a strange little piece called “Paradise for the Worried,” notable mostly for the cusp-of-celebrity cast, Laura Innes and Campbell Scott.
Stage managing took me on an International tour with Julie Taymor’s stunning piece “Juan Darien,” and also Internationally with Steve Reich, one of the pioneers of minimalist music, with his piece, “The Cave.”
Then came box office management. I assisted at, or headed, some of the leading Off-B’way houses: Art D’Lugoff’s legendary Village Gate, The Orpheum, The Minetta Lane, The Westside, and my beloved Jane Street Theatre, where I stayed every night after the box office closed to watch the phenomenal “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”
“Hedwig…” became a catalyst for the rest of my life. I was the box office Treasurer, I designed and administrated the show website, and eventually, I became “Hedwig-at-large,” doing promotions that the stars didn’t care to do. “Hedwig” also led me back to acting; I was hired to play the title role at Richmond VA’s Firehouse Theatre Project, and subsequently at the Virginia Shakespeare Festival. “Hedwig’s” other influence in my life was that through the website message board, I met my husband of 17 years.
In 2008, for family reasons, I left New York and returned to Reading.
And now, I’ve found a home with the Prather Organizatiom, working between their two theaters: Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre in Lancaster, and the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre in Ft. Myers, FL.
I’ve included the somewhat lengthy “what have I done” section not as an exercise in braggadocio, I am, certainly, proud of what I’ve accomplished. But, more, I am amazed at where life has taken me. From one small hole-in-the-wall theater in Reading, PA, to a 40 plus year theatrical adventure; who could have imagined? It’s been, and continues to be, a marvelous journey.
