“…that’s where the great talents have been formed. If you want to find great French actors, look to the Comedie Francaise or Vilar. The great actors of England came out of the early Old Vic and the repertory system. Then came the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare, and now the new Globe is developing a company. A lot of the important actors in America came out of companies — the Group Theatre, Eva Le Gallienne’s theatre, and later Arena Stage.”
THEATRE
“Henry Strozier started acting professionally in 1960, as an apprentice at the Barter Theater, playing Ned Beatty’s brother; after four seasons there, three years in the Army, and going back to school for an honor’s B.A. in English from the U. of Iowa, he was a resident company member at ten different theaters, including The Asolo, Baltimore’s Center Stage, The Loretto-HIlton in St. Louis, the Missouri Rep, the Milwaukee Rep, the dear old Totem Pole Playhouse (where he often appeared opposite Jean Stapleton), the Great Lakes Shakespeare Theater, the American Players Theater, and, finally, 16 years at the Arena Stage in D.C. (Helen Hayes Award). He also worked at the Williamstown Theater, Olney Theater, Marriott Lincolnshire (Jefferson Best Ensemble Award), Westport Country Playhouse ,and the Guthrie. His work on and off B’way included Judgement at Nuremberg, Andorra, Spinning into Butter, The Persians, Art, A Question of Mercy, and MacReele.”
WIL: "In the spring of 1970 I was finishing my first season as a company member at Center Stage and Henry Strozier, a wonderful actor and fellow company member, told me that he had just auditioned for a summer theatre in south central Pa-Totem Pole Playhouse. He said the producer/artistic director, Bill Putch, was looking for another actor to be the 2nd resident actor for the summer (10 shows in 15 weeks). Henry and I both spent the summer there before returning to our 2nd season at Center Stage. In the space of a year, Henry and I did 16 shows together between Center Stage and Totem Pole.”
CARL: "I still maintain that every actor should be exposed to 2-week stock as there is no time to dilly-dally. Our shows were mounted with a mere fifty hours of rehearsal. One jumped into the deep end of the pool and quickly learned to swim-or sink."
- FROM WIL LOVE & CARL SCHURR, TWO OF MY OLDEST AND DEAREST THEATRE BUDDIES
ARENA STAGE
Photos above courtesy of Arena Stage | Theatre production photos by Joan Marcus
THEATRE PRODUCTIONS
ARENA STAGE When Zelda and Tom Fichandler and a handful of friends started Arena Stage, there was no regional theater movement in the United States or resources to support a theater committed to providing quality work for its community. It took time for the idea of regional theater to take root, but the Fichandlers, together with the people of the nation’s capital, worked patiently to build the fledgling theater into a diverse, multifaceted, internationally renowned institution.
“Totem Pole Playhouse, ‘America’s Summer Theater’, began its life in a small converted auto shop in 1950 and has gone on to become one of the best known and highly-regarded summer theaters in the United States. The New York Times called Totem Pole Playhouse ‘the Cadillac of summer theaters’.”
