My first official theatrical experience
on stage at Westmoreland Central
School playing a lead role
1968
Played the butler with a unsavory
background and suffered a
wicked bout of "drying"
1969
As a result of my month-long bout with mononucleosis in the spring
of 1970, I had to drop some classes. I was able to get extra credit hours in a summer theatre program. Two musicals were produced that year (see above) and I had a featured role as the wizard in Mattress, and a small role in Threepenny Opera as a priest
In an effort to lighten the mood in the Theatre Department, my friends and I created a revue-type show called "A Night of Comedy." Drawing materials from comedic plays, movies, vaudeville, and just about everything else we could think of, the show would only run for two nights as the cast was large and the production complicated. It sold out both nights!
Had several small roles including
a dinosaur, at SUNY Oswego in
my first collegiate production
1970
Appeared as Christopher Sly in The Taming of the Shrew, and got to
go all-out slapstick (with bruises)
1971
Review in the Oswego Palladium-
Times by Frances Marion Brown
Click for full review
As part of a new program in 1970,
Ann Jette ('71) and I co-directed a production of Witness in the so-
called "black- box" theater at Waterman Hall which made sense as a courtroom drama
and a single set play.
The audience actually became the courtroom spectators and were in the middle of the action
Studio Arena Theatre
I photographed the stage productions at the Studio Arena Theatre (now Shea's 710 Theatre - more on that elsewhere) for distribution to tv news and other outlets & for archival purposes for over twenty years. Select scenes that best captured the nature and style of the play were staged for the camera multiple times so different angles could be edited later.
With this expanding library of material, I also edited several TV documentaries about the SAT that were aired on WNED-TV Ch.17 PBS in Buffalo/Niagara, as well as 30sec. commercials, and other
marketing tools. Sadly, the SAT closed its doors in the early 2000s.
Fences
12 Angry Men
Harvey
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, theatres were closed along with just about everything else. In order to stay alive, two theatre companies hired Full Circle Studios to produce video-based online presentations instead of an in-person season.
The Alleyway Theatre created films based on short plays by various authors on location at many unusual and unique sites across WNY. Cast and crew followed all precautions while shooting to ensure safety.
The Jewish Repertory Theatre of WNY produced their entire season of full-length plays as staged readings and presented them online for subscribers. Again all precautions were taken for cast and crew safety.
Alleyway Theatre
“What Moves at the Bottom”
By Maria Brandt
Jewish Repertory Theatre
“The Year My Mother Came Back
By Alice Eve Cohen