1973 Randy Zotter

Upon graduating from the Playhouse, I moved to Tampa and started a drywall company with a bunch of friends. We built homes up and down the Gulf Coast. We drank hard, crashed cars and managed to survive.

Upon some reflection, I decided to move to New York, where I lived with Alice Cooper’s Manager in Soho. I was getting my foot in the door and going to auditions, when, while standing in Lincoln Park, I realized I was a small town boy adrift in a big city. So I moved to Woodstock, NY and lived with a very nice lady and her two sons. From there I moved to a commune in Orange Massachusetts, lived in an 8x10 cabin with a wood stove, an outhouse and no running water. I also ran a daycare center.

I then moved back to Pittsburgh and started The Zotter Pottery with my brother Walt. It’s still in existence on Pittsburgh Southside.

So that brings us to 1977, the year I married Leslie Ward, (we met at CMU) and moved to Puerto Rico. Leslie grew up in Puerto Rico and worked for Eastern Airlines. I got my scuba diving license and started commercial diving and taking tourists to the surrounding islands. After a bit, I found myself in Saudi Arabia putting up drywall. Leslie found the job for me. Isn’t marriage wonderful?

After a brief stint overseas, I moved to Washington, DC and lived with my in-laws, Chuck and Jane. Leslie finally joined me about six months later when we bought our first house.

In 1982 we moved back to Pittsburgh, bought a house in the Mexican War Streets on the Northside and have lived there ever since.

In 1991, at the ages of 40 and 41, we had a daughter. When Findlay got to school age, we found ourselves at odds with the public schools system. So I helped start Pittsburgh’s first charter school, the Manchester Academic Charter School and was its first Board President. By the 4^th grade, we decided to home school. Since Leslie made the big bucks, I won, and became a stay-at-home dad and raised our daughter. There has never been a more joyous period in my life, for so many reasons. Findlay is now 19, attends Drexel and is a film major.

Over the years I became heavily involved in City politics, non-profits and economic development.

I also fell back into carpentry, have a big shop in my basement and do exclusive work in my neighborhood.

Over the years, my acting bug has been satisfied by doing commercials and modeling work.

So college did pay off.

I’m alive and find myself mostly happy.