Denis Deane

How did you get your start in theater?

It really just happened out of the blue. In 1978, my wife and her mother told me that they wanted to audition for a production of South Pacific at Little Town Players. I tagged along with no intention of taking any part in the show. However, this is a male heavy show and they begged me to audition. I told them I couldn't sing - I told them over and over that I couldn't sing. It didn't matter, they said, because I would just be in the chorus. So I got cast in the chorus despite being tone deaf. At the same time, they were also installing new stage lights in the theater. I was far more interested in that, and since I had nothing else I was doing on the weekends, I offered to help out with that. That's how I really got my start in the technical aspect of theater.

 

But the South Pacific story doesn't end there. Three weeks from opening night, the director was suddenly let go. Along with him went the lead actor who was playing Emile de Becque. The new director asked who could sing that role, and the music director (Betty China) says "Oh, Denis can do it." So I go from no theater experiences to singing the lead role in South Pacific. I remember one performance, I was about to sing one of the reprises of "Some Enchanted Evening," and I hear a lady in the front row say to her friend "Oh no, he's not going to sing it again is he?" I wish I could have stopped and told her how much I didn't want to sing it either.

 

My wife was one of the founders of Little Town Players, so I really have been involved from the earliest days of that theater. The old movie theater at the Elks Home wasn't being used anymore, so I helped set up the technical part of the building to support stage productions. I know that theater's technical setup like the back of my hand. 

 

What made you stick closer to the technical side of theater?

Little Town Players was really small back then. After South Pacific, I really started doing tech for every show thereafter. Sometimes I would also be on stage performing, but I always helped with set and lighting design. Joe Cursio was the tech director back then and he had an actual degree in theater technology. He taught me much of what I know now and when he stepped down, I stepped into the role full time. 

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There are a number of sets I am very proud of. The set we created for Oliver in 2006 was really cool with a bunch of ramps and an extension off the front of the stage. I also enjoyed designing all the sets I did with Mark. He and I made a great team because he would come up with these pipe dream sets, I would bring him back to reality, and together we'd put together something perfect for the space. When he directed a show, he and I would get together for lunch and after talking about theater or baseball or whatever, we'd sit down and start creating. Promises, Promises, She Loves Me, and My Fair Lady were all great sets I designed with Mark. But Mark's nickname was "Oh I Need" - every show, after everything was designed and building had started, Mark would suddenly turn to me and say "Oh, I need...." and it'd be some set piece he forgot about. I just came to expect it from him, but we became good friends.

 

Tell us about your directing experience.

In 1985, I directed Amen Corner at LTP. I had done a number of shows on stage by that point and frankly, I figured the audience was getting sick of seeing me. Remember, the theater was still pretty new and we hadn't established a vast range of actors in Bedford yet. So I decided to try directing instead, although my first show happened by accident - that seems to be the way I get thrust into something: by accident. The director that had been hired suddenly backed out, so I was asked to do it. I reminded the Board that I had never directed before, but I guess they were desperate enough to ask me. Amen Corner is a show with an African-American cast, which hadn't been really pursued in Bedford at the time. Not only did I get a great cast, but the show was a big success. 

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Over the years, I directed about twenty shows in the area. Most were LTP productions, but I also did a few shows at Showtimers in Roanoke, including Steel Magnolias - another show where a director quit and someone recommended me to take over. Some of my favorite shows I directed include Other Desert Cities, Proof, Doubt, and 12 Angry Men. I would direct a show every couple years at LTP, but I was doing the technical work for every show regardless. My last directed show was 12 Angry Men in March 2023. Mark [Foreman] and I had discussed this show many times and I was planning on auditioning for it if he directed it, which I was hoping for. When he died, I wanted to direct it in the way we both envisioned it. So many people thought we'd never get enough men to audition for it; we ended up getting enough men for two complete casts! It was such a wonderful experience and a great show to finish my directing career

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What are some acting highlights for you?

One that sticks out immediately is when I did the role of C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands at the Lynchburg Fine Arts Center. I learned so much from the director, Jim Meyers, and he was such a pleasure to work with. He made it easy to move out of my LTP comfort zone and try something at a new theater with new people. I developed my directing style based on Jim's. It was my favorite acting experience by far.

 

What are some of the challenges that you faced as a director, actor, or set designer?

Oh man, it's hard to pick just one...

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I was involved in a production of The Sound of Music, playing Captain von Trapp. We had three different women who were playing nuns and all wanted to play Maria. The girl who was cast just knocked it out of the park. She was phenomenal and seemed to have come out of nowhere. These other actresses just made the girl who was playing Maria miserable and thus, it made everyone miserable. The director and I had to sit those women down and lecture them about setting a better example. Conflict among cast members happens and it's always a challenge to work through it.

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Another story: in 2006, I was directing a A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at LTP. One of the other actors, Jacob Martin, was a great singer. He hit every note perfectly and was so consistent every rehearsal and show. The second weekend of performances, Jacob shows up with laryngitis. He's playing the role of the general, which is a big role. So we were all panicking about what to do. Suddenly, I just set up a microphone under the stage and we aim a camera from the booth on Jacob for the whole show. I sat backstage with the script and said every one of Jacob's lines in the mic. We were fortunate that Jacob's dad was also in the show in a minor role, and he could sing just as well. When it was time for Jacob to sing, I just handed his dad the mic and he did the singing parts. If it had been anyone but Jacob, it would have been impossible, but Jacob was so consistent every show that it ended up being pretty easy. I don't know if the audience bought it, but we pulled it off somehow.

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Tell us your most embarrassing stage story (because everyone has one).

I was doing the backstage work for Annie Get Your Gun in the '80s. One of the set pieces was a tree and the foliage for the tree was part of the drop. I brought out the tree between scene changes and was supposed to attached the foliage to the tree once it came down. I did what I was supposed to, but the lights came up early. The tree was in the middle of the stage, so I couldn't just walk off. Instead, I just stood behind this tree for the entire scene, which also happened to be the longest scene in the show. I'm know I wasn't completely concealed and audience members could see me. It's funny to think about now. 

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This isn't really embarrassing, but it's a fun anecdote. I remember doing a show involving a sound effect for a piano. I was supposed to start playing piano on stage and the woman playing my wife was supposed to comment on the playing. Well, the piano on stage wasn't real, so we had a sound effect for the piano playing. I start to "play" and... nothing. I try again and still nothing. The line my wife was supposed to say is "You haven't played that piano for years." She instead said "You haven't played that piano for years, and now I know why." We both broke character and laughed on stage, and it was a great recovery and great story. 

 

What advice can you give to future directors or set designers? What is your preparation process?

I always start with going through the script three or four times before auditions. I want to understand the characters as completely as possible. I often start blocking even before casting the show as well, understanding it may need to flow differently once we get on stage. But I don't block with written notes; I block with drawings. I'll actually print the entire script on standard paper, leaving the back page blank, and put it in a notebook. I'll draw the blocking for the page as I move through the script so I can really visualize the actor's movements. I also don't like to block every single movement. If I want an actor to get from point A to point B, I'll let the actor know which line I need them to be at a specific point, but it's their job to figure out how to get there naturally and have a purpose for moving. If we end up at a roadblock, we sit down and work through it, but I think it's important for the cast to be part of the development of the blocking in some way. 

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I'm also a big believer in character development. After the first read through of a show, I like to do a second night of just exploring the characters: what happened before the show, what's going on during, and what's going to happen after. It may not be something you even see on stage, but the actor feels more confident in the role when they perform. 12 Angry Men was a great example of that. The actors knew their own roles so well, even though the script gives almost no background on many of them. They had to read between the lines and figure out why their character acted a certain way, but by two weeks in, they were acting so naturally with each other. And that was a show almost nobody left the stage, so they had to stay in character for the entire performance. But you could really see how well they worked in the final product. 

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As a tech director, I sit down with the director and first ask if there are any special requests or ideas he has. We go over set, lighting, sound, anything technical. I try not to interject my own ideas unless I really feel it would enhance the show, or if the director asks for something not practical (or possible). Most recently, I helped design some neat lighting effects for Secret Garden involving a silhouette of the actors at the end. It was very poignant and moving, and it certainly had a whole new meaning when Mark died a week after we closed. But the biggest advice I can give both show directors and tech directors is to work alongside of each other, and be very honest about the abilities of the space and equipment that are available. If something won't work, speak up. 

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What is special about community theater?

Community theater is about camaraderie. There is a shared love of the experience, a shared love of theater, and it's a creative outlet for all involved. For me, it's not just about entertaining audiences. It's also about educating. For every Little Shop of Horrors, Oklahoma, and Sound of Music, you also have Doubt, 12 Angry Men, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. We are teaching the audience something and also challenging the actors. I loved taking people who were novices to theater and working with them and teaching over the course of the rehearsal period. Community theater is a chance to do a project with like-minded individuals, to accomplish something as a team, and to have fun in the process. If it's not fun, don't do it. If you're not feeling fulfilled, don't do it. It's as simple as that.