Pavilion Theatre at Penn State I had resolved to stick with it (acting, theatre, whatever you want to call it), and that fall I started my freshman year at Penn State. The first few weeks were a whirlwind of meeting new people, getting oriented to the campus, attending classes, and being waylaid by Philip Klopp, … Continue reading Janus—The Resolution

June 22, 1967, the day of our first performance arrived. My photo had been in the local paper the day before along with a nice write-up as publicity for the play, and one of my co-workers had spotted it. His name was Pyles; I don’t recall his first name, but I’m sure it wasn’t Gomer. … Continue reading Janus—The Show Goes On

In the February 13, 1956 edition of Life magazine there was a feature on Janus, which was then running on Broadway. Here is the first page.  Some of the initial reviews of the original production attacked Janus for not being realistic. Well, of course, it isn’t terribly believable, one has to suspend a certain amount … Continue reading Janus—A Synopsis

Mary Finney and Robert Preston as Miss Addy and Gil in a scene from the original production of Janus In those days LCTI didn’t have its own permanent performance space. It did have the barn which it had just bought, but it was still undergoing massive rehabilitation, so it wasn’t suitable for rehearsing. The company … Continue reading Janus—Rehearsals Move To the Set

Our director, John Osborne, was demanding with his actors, and he generally stayed in an upbeat mood with us, but he could be a real terror to deal with if he thought someone wasn’t being straight with him. Margaret Sullavan and Claude Dauphin as Jessica and Denny in a scene from the original production of … Continue reading Janus—Backstage Drama

According to the rehearsal schedule, we had just over a month to bring Janus to the stage. Happily two of the three leading parts had been cast with truly outstanding amateur actors, and in another life either or both of them might very well have made choices that would have struck the “amateur” from that … Continue reading Janus—Rehearsals Begin

  In these posts about incidents and people from my past, I try to write about things that might be of interest to folks today. So humorous incidents, interesting people I’ve known, surprise endings, the sort of thing I can shape into some semblance of a coherent story or anecdote, all these are fair game. … Continue reading The One Where I Auditioned