by David Prussner
The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
As I sat thinking about what to say in this blog entry, these lyrics just kind of popped into my head. Indeed, it has been a long and winding road that has led me to the Acting Out stage. I began acting in various church-related Christmas shows since I had been 6 or 7, and at the time it was fun (sort of) and I never had many lines, it wasn’t until high school that the theatre bug bit me. Boy, did it bite hard.
It’s been said you never forget your first time, and for me in relation to acting, that is true. At Reddick High School there were generally only two productions a year, a Junior class play in the fall of the year and a Senior class play in the spring of each school year. In my Junior year, it was decided to put on the play “Blithe Spirit” by Noel Coward. As you may know, the play is very female heavy with only two male roles, but as luck would have it, the majority of the males interested in a part were at a football practice and the coach would not let them audition. That left myself and one other person and we both got a part. It was during this production’s rehearsal period that I got bitten by the acting bug. The following year, it was decided that since I had such a large role in the Junior class play, my part would be significantly lessened for the Senior play “No Opera at the O’pry House Tonight”; I had two lines, but I got to be billed as the student director. After that experience, I was hooked.
Since those two initial productions all those years ago, I’ve been involved in many and varied productions. I once again got lucky when I got to college. Since the collage (Culver-Stockton College) was at the time so small, it needed assistance from non-theatre majors to assist with productions. I count myself very blessed to have participated in a number of productions while there, both on stage and backstage.
In 1982 after graduating from college, I returned the local area with my love theatre intact. Initially, I didn’t know where to turn for my creative outlet, but eventually I found Kankakee Valley Theatre (KVT) as it was then called. Over the years, as I have traveled along the winding road of my life, I have had the pleasure and honor to work with a great many talented actors and actresses, as well as, set designers, builders, costumers, directors, etc. Each production has been memorable in their own way.
I have also been fortunate enough to act on stages far removed from Kankakee county. Stages such as Country Theatre Workshop (CTW) in Cissna Park, IL, where I have been onstage as well as having had the opportunity to direct. I had the chance to be in the last show on the Moraine Valley Community College’s old stage prior to a new being built, the show was called “A Flea in her Ear” and it was a farce, but it led to a turn in the semi-professional Theatre II’s production of “The Elephant Man” at Saint Xavier University, a part for which I got paid to do and it was fun.
Things have not always been perfect, I mean I’ve not always gotten the part that I’ve auditioned for and in many cases, have not even been cast in the show. However, the good times far out-number the less than perfect ones. One of my fondest memories of the theater is the KVTA show of their 2nd auction theater production “Peter Pan”. In that production, I won the part of Tick-Tock, the mean Crocodile. During the day of opening night, my brother past away. I was unsure of “going on with the show”, but my wife told me “There has been too much sadness today, I need to laugh, you need to laugh, and if I can’t laugh at the sight of my husband crawling as across the stage as a crocodile, then I don’t what can make me laugh and right now I need to laugh.” In addition, the stage manager knew of my loss and made her mission along with her stage crew to make sure I laughed throughout the entire production and I was sure grateful for that.
As the years passed, a great many things happened in my life as they have in everyone else’s life, and I drifted away from preforming on stage, but never gave up the love and enjoyment I have for the theatre. Within the past couple of years, I have been able to “tread the boards” once again, being involved with KVTA in show such as “1776”, “The Crucible”, “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” for a second time. I have also gotten to be involved with Limelight Theater, most recently with their production of “Anne Frank”. That brings this long and winding road of mine to the Acting Out Theatre Co.’s production of “West Side Story” in a role that I have played on before when KVTA put on the show. There is no comparing the two shows, because each is unique in their own way.
So, there you have it, over 40 years of activity being involved with the theatre along my own winding road. Over those years, I have met a great many talented people who have allowed me to be their friend. This production is no different, I’ve seen old acting comrades and made many newly found friends. Finally let me say first, with apologies to the Beatles, “may the long and winding road that led me to your stage, never disappear, but carry on”; and secondly, in the words of Casablanca “this look like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
