Oliver 1968?

After much prodding and encouragement from my mother, I auditioned for my first show at the ripe old age of 13. The director, Jesse Byrum, decided to double cast the show and I got to play the part of the Artful Dodger opposite Ted Jones. Ted and I remained good friends until his untimely passing a few years back. To say that show changed my life is a grand understatement. I can still remember waiting in the wings for my first entrance, looking out onto the brightly lit stage and hoping I would remember all my lines. But as soon as I heard the applause after Ted and I finished our first scene, I felt a sense of accomplishment that I had never felt up to that point.

And now these many years later, I get great enjoyment out of watching cast members I’m directing or perhaps acting with, some of them as new to the stage as I was those 50+ years ago, beaming with the same exuberance (and exhaustion) from “giving it all” to their performance.