I like the theatre quite a bit. Because we live 45 minutes from Stratford, 15 minutes south of Blyth, and an hour north of London, we have plenty of opportunities to attend the theatre.
Theatre
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| Shortly after moving to
Clinton, I
joined the Clinton Community Players.
I hadn't done any theatre acting for over 30 years, but I threw myself
into the thespian life. In April, 1997, I played the role of Harvey Dawson in June
Groom by Rick Abbot. It was a great deal of fun and a terrific way to get to know
some really interesting people here in Clinton-upon-Jones.
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Here I am as Harvey Dawson, |
| I had so much fun being in the performance of June
Groom that I wanted somehow to return the favour to everyone in the
community who had made that show possible. So in the fall of 1997, I agreed to be the
co-director, co-producer, stage manager, etc. of the group's performance of the female
version of Neil Simon's, The Odd Couple.
I had never done any of this sort of thing before, so it was a lot of work for me. The
responsibility for all the behind-the-scenes work is terribly daunting, -- it gave me a
lot more respect for the people who are able to do these jobs on a regular basis. I must
say, it sure was nice to be able to work with all the people involved in this
production. They were terrific and the show was a tremendous success!
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| In April of 1998, The Clinton Community Players performed Let's Murder
Marsha. Fortunately, there were no other guys my age trying out, so I
got to be Tobias, a wall-street banker and husband of Marsha. I was thrilled with the
role. I also did the programs, posters, and tickets for the play. |
During the 1998-99 theatre season, I became the chair of the Clinton Community Players executive committee, which was okay work, mostly involving getting money from the town council and organizing upcoming productions. I also did the programmes and tickets for Allocating Annie and Double In Diamonds, the Players two productions during that season.
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For the 1999-2000
season, I directed two plays for the theatre group. On November 25-27,
1999, we produced Neil Simon's Rumors. We used a somewhat
avante garde set design, which involved more construction time, but which created an intriguing environment for the production.
The show received tremendous critical acclaim.
In April, 2000, we did an old 1890s-style melodrama, with all the trappings: a Victorian set, a hero, a damsel-in-distress, a villain, a piano player, and peanuts. Everyone involved had a terrific time; and the show was so successful, we'll probably do another melodrama in a couple of years. |
During the academic year 2000 - 2001, I was on sabbatical from
my reg'lar job,
and I knew I'd be traveling a bit (to Australia in November and
to Texas in March and April).
Consequently, I was unable to take on any roles
with the Clinton theatre's two productions.
| But no sooner was I back from my travels than I auditioned for a role with the London Community Players' production of Opera Comique. They asked me to play the role of composer Charles Gounod in this French farce, in part, I suspect, because of my musical background. The play ran for the last two weeks in June, 2001. |  |
Here are some photos from Opera Comique. Just in case you don't recognize me, I'm the one with the top hat.
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And most recently I've been doing various roles, scripted and improvizational, with Mystery Unlimited, which puts on mystery dinner theatre performances throughout Southwestern Ontario. Doing them is loads of fun.
| I guess, to be fair, I really should say that I have done quite a bit of acting in my life. In addition to my television series, "Economics for Insomniacs", I frequently teach large classes of over 400 students at The University of Western Ontario, and we refer to these classes as "the nightclub act." They involve quite a bit of performing and planning, whereas with smaller classes my teaching style can be more interactive. |
This page was last updated on August 11, 2001 |
