Post date: Nov 14, 2012 12:51:23 AM
Fellow Drama Guild alumni: I regret not being able to attend. Usually I live about 7 hours drive northwest of Minneapolis (in Canada) which would have made the reunion difficult but not impossible. However this year I'm living in Dublin. The Abbey, the Gate and the Gaiety are about 15-20 minutes away from where we live, so there's lots of good theatre around. However, unfortunately coming to Newark wasn't going to be possible this time.
Like others, I have great memories of the Drama Guild, starting as a young freshman working on HMS Pinafore, How to Succeed in Business, Half a Sixpence and Oliver with Frank Torok in charge. With Mark (then Matt) Payne and Kevin Sheridan, Joe Growney and others, we worked both the regular school year shows plus Parents Night and other events. Somehow I missed working on Summer Theatre shows.
One of my memories is of the notes Frank Torok was giving after a performance of Oliver. The stage crew (especially Dan Hancock and I) kept bumping into the backdrop which was a scene of the Victorian London skyline. Frank said something like "…and London had another series of earthquakes last night." He then looked at us, and then went right on.
I also remember the turntable jamming in the middle of a scene change although I can't remember what play it was. I looked at Mike Carr, who looked at me, both of us saying "now what?" when Kevin Hanley appeared over my shoulder and told us what to do (I can't remember what that was, but it worked).
My last memory is of the late Joe Vaccarezza as Dr. Herman Einstein in Arsenic & Old Lace stealing a scene by picking up silverware off the dining room table on the set and putting it in his pocket while a conversation was going on between two other characters across the stage. He only did it once, and Kevin Hanley politely suggested he not do it in the remainder of the performances as everyone watched him and missed the main point of the scene.
I made good, life-long friends in the Drama Guild and although I never acted or been involved in it since (unless giving university lectures regularly is a form of acting) I've stayed interested in theatre. I hope the reunion goes well.
Denis Bracken
Institute of Criminology
Roebuck Castle
University College Dublin
Belfield
Dublin 4
Ireland