And I’m not talking about the grade school play where you were cast as a member of a major food group. I’m talking full-scale productions with casting calls, scripts, a director, costumes, sets, and a audience of people who actually wanted to be there (whether they paid or not is optional).
Collegiate productions do count, btw.
So, theater people, time to show off your CVs.
I’ll get the ball rolling.
College:
Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof
The Wazir in Kizmet
The Policeman in We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay! (One-act adaptation)
Ester - I Am The Egg Man (currently in rehearsals for part of one-act play festival)
Ouisa - Six Degrees of Separation
Caitlin - Over the River and Through the Woods
Rita - The Water Engine
Our Town - Various roles, including Emily/most recently I was a townsperson
The Cherry Orchard - Dunyasha
Bus Stop - Elma
Almost all of the above were at my university. (ORTW was at non-profit theatre) And I’ve been in various showcases, etc. Love to do theatre, but don’t audition as much as I’d like (should) because of my current work/school schedule. Right now I’m pretty much focused on graduate, graduate, oh-please-let-me-out-of-this-school type stuff.
In my short-lived acting ‘career’ (mmmm, mac and cheese…), there have been several, mostly Shakespearean roles. My favorite, however, was Trinculo from The Tempest. I had an amazingly fun time with it, and really clicked with the Stephano character. So much so, that while the Chicago Reader reviewed us, they absolutely panned the play, but said that when Stephano and I were not on stage we were ‘sorely missed’. Gave me a good feeling.
Take into consideration I actually did this for a living for a while. These are the ones I can remember right now. Please excuse spelling and vagueness. I’m at work.
Musicals -
Riff – West Side Story
Teveav (sp)–Fiddler on the Roof
Lazar–Fiddler on the Roof
Molly’s Father – Unsinkable Molly Brown
Chairman of Board/Ad dept. head —How to Succeed…
Ernst — Cabaret
Beaver Smith – Billy the Kid
Billis – South Pacific
Dolittle – My Fair Lady
Dramas -
Stage manager - Our Town
H.A.W. Tabor - Baby Doe Tabor
Thrillers-
Milo - Sleuth
Sidney - Deathtrap
Comedies-
Mortimer – Arsenic and Old Lace
Dr. Einstein - Arsenic and Old Lace
Paul - Barefoot in the Park
Mr. Velasco - Barefoot in the Park
Husband - Moon Over Buffalo
Selsdon - Noises Off
Grandpa - You Can’t Take It With You
Father - Brighton Beach Memoirs
Boyfriend - Best Laid Plans
Will - The Mouse that Roared
Hemingway - An Evening With Ernest Hemingway
Numerous roles - The Good Doctor
Dolittle - Pigmalion
Shakespeare -
Mercutio - Romeo and Juliet
Fool - King Lear
Caesar - Julius Caesar
Duncan/Doctor - The Scottish play
Father - Comedy of Errors
I have a BFA in Acting and have done theater from fringe to pro as well as some television and independent film. If I posted my whole CV, you’d think I was bragging.
I just closed a production of Dark Ride this past weekend. Excellent cast, good show. Previous faves include Touchstone in As You Like It and the monologuist of “Gas” in the world premiere of Jose Rivera’s Giants Have Us in Their Books. I’m also proud to have created a complete original score for a new version of Brecht’s Mother Courage and her Children (and performed in the ensemble).
Well, back in my acting days, I guess my favorite role was the lead guy in “The Actor’s Nightmare.” Lots of fun physical comedy stuff. Oh, I also was one of he lead guys in “The Menaechmi.” Both shows were college productions.
I’ve since worked on at least 100 different productions and traveled to 38 states working as a technician (usually lighting). I’ve found there’s a lot more work for good techs than good actors (not that I was one), and I enjoy it a hell of a lot more. Never really got into the acting stuff. YMMV, of course.
Since I turned into a tech in college, I’ll start with
high school:
Sir Evelyn Oakleigh in Anything Goes
Mark Twain in Twain by the Tale
Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Guys & Dolls
Arthur in Tell Me That You Love Me Junie Moon
A role I don’t remember in George M
A Loony in The Wiz (I had started my journey towards the dark side by this time, and was primarily the Stage Electrician)
A few other roles I don’t remember, from plays that were just as memorable
Four or five different roles in the outdoor drama Strike at the Wind over five summers - among them a Scottish preacher, a confederate colonel, a white trash jailer, and one year, Stage Manager.
College:
(I was truly under the thrall of my new master by this time, and so I only acted in one show) Bill The Chicken in Ozma of Oz. For a fun ‘Brush with Greatness’ - the guy in the drum major outfit in this shot from the show is Kevin Williamson, who later went on to write Scream
After college:
The Sherrif in The Rainmaker
The Priest in Prelude to a Kiss
Lou in The 1940’s Radio Hour
Mr Potter in A Wonderful Life (the musical version of the Frank Capra film)
Samuel Chase in 1776
A Character whose name eludes me, in an original piece named Damned in Eden, a bio-play about John Barrymore that ran 3.5 hours long. Ugh.
I once played Gene Siskel in a bizarre original production where the girls played male roles and the guys played females.
I was in a comedy troupe but I didn’t play anyone well known there.
In high school I played a minor character dance student in Fame.
With the Yokota Players I played the Mother in Barefoot in the Park.
Oh and even though you said not to mention grade school but I am very proud of being Wendy #1 in Peter Pan in 1st grade. There were 3 girls playing the role, but I was the first and set the pace for the rest!
I love acting and will get into more productions here (Wichita) soon, hopefully.
High School:
Jud Fry and Ali Hakim in a double-cast production of Oklahoma!
Mr. McAfee in Bye Bye Birdie
After college:
Sir Lionel in Camelot
David in Company
The Beast in Beauty and the Beast, Really
I wrote a play called A Little Slice of Heaven that gets produced now and then in community theater groups in Maryland, but I’ve never been in it. It takes the basic plot of a children’s book, The King, the Mice and the Cheese, rewritten as an episode of Seinfeld.
I generally like to keep behind scenes as a sound designer, writer of director plus I not a singer, so musicals are out for me.
Packer - Vinegar Tom
Father - When Five Years Pass
Guildenstern - Rozencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Iago - Othello (My first professional role)
Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie
Peter in Peter Pan
Tintinabula in a funny thing happened on the way to the forum
More villagers, townspeople, and chorus members than I can remember.
More props, tech, stage manager, lights than I’ll ever forget.
And Gloria in an off-broadway production of A Good Man by Fred Stroppel
Sigh, I hope my sons will want to join the local community theater when they get older, otherwise I don’t know how I’d ever find the time to do theater again.
(of course, we’ve got this big and nearly empty barn…“let’s put on a show!”)
as with many who have commented already, more stage managing that I care to remember, but I did get dragged on stage for; Mrs. Page - Merry Wives of Windsor (hard to say “no” when the director tells you “I picked the play just for you. You have no choice” Libby - Opening Night Chorus - Evita
Nurse - Romeo & Juliet
Gertrude - Hamlet
Flo (mom) - Picnic
Aunt Juliana - Hedda Gabler
Domina - Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Liz (Mother) - Ladyhouse Blues
Lots of Stage Manager or AD, but favorite was make-up in Extremities (chemical burns!! woo hoo!)
Assistant Second Deputy Sound Board Apprentice - My Fair Lady
First Tuba - Pirates of Penzance
Spotlight #2 (track Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Adelaide, Sister Sara) - Guys & Dolls
Jigger Craigin - Carousel (UGH!)
Prince Dauntless - Once Upon a Mattress
Matthew - the fantasticks
A very short “career” to be sure, but playing the tuba part for “The Major General’s Song” was a big perk.
