I worked at the Festival for the first time the summer of 1996. It was following the divorce from my first wife and the summer was a sort of therapy for me. I was (and still am) great friends with Curt Tofteland, the former artistic director of KSF. Our friendship began a decade earlier when we were both working the Historical Drama circuit. Curt knew I was hurting and invited me to come up to play in the park for the summer (and play is what I needed!) We performed Two Gents (Curt was Launce and I was Speed) and Henry V in which I played Exeter. It was a great summer where I made many new friends (John and Be still hold a very special place in my heart), learned how to bet on the horses at Churchill Downs, built decks, and even got my ear pieced! It was the summer I reconnected with myself and healed so I could take the next step in my life.
That next step was meeting Eli when I got back to Texas. Within a year we were married and I had a whole new family with Jesse (who introduced Eli and I – but that is another story on my journey with Shakespeare), Aaron, and Beka! Eli and I were married in May 2007 and two weeks after we said “We will!” I was back in Kentucky working the festival again. (That is the hardest part of a life in theatre – traveling away from those you love to work.) That summer was The Tempest and I played Sebastian while John played Antonio – we were two large evil men! This was a different summer in many respects – I had just gotten married, John and Be were getting married at the end of the Festival, and while the play (both on and off stage) was fun, I missed my family and really wanted to be with them.
Knowing it was going to be a challenging summer, Eli and I planned that she and Beka would come to Louisville for a visit in Mid-June around Father’s Day (My first and I was excited to have Beka there to share it with me!) To celebrate my first patriarchal event, I had asked Curt if I could give the “barreling speech” at intermission on that Sunday. (Barreling was a tradition at KSF where we passed that hat during intermission to raise money to “Keep Will Free!” The company had a friendly competition running on which group could raise the most money so giving a moving speech was a key strategy to inspiring the audience to give generously.) I was going to use my first Father’s Day as a secret weapon and had my speech all worked out even to the point of introducing my family to the audience! It was a sure fire plan to have the most successful night of barreling at the Festival – one that would be talked about for years and passed down generation to generation! Or so I thought.
You see, Eli stole the show - and my life became even more amazing. When she arrived in Louisville she gave me a wonderful present. We were going to have a baby! Eli was pregnant with Callista and I was now the father of four beautiful children. Words still cannot express what I felt when she shared the news with me. I was speechless and for a man of the theatre – that joyous silence spoke volumes.
So there I was, celebrating my first Father’s Day standing center stage at Shakespeare in the Park sharing with the world that I was the proud and loving husband of a wonderful woman who not only entrusted me with her first three children, but also loved me enough to have a fourth! I don’t remember much else I said – my eyes were glued to the smiling faces of my wife and daughter who came to Louisville to share this moment with me. My life was indeed a wonderful “strange new world.” Callista was born on Valentine’s Day 2008 and the journey continued.
Eight years later I was back in Louisville working the festival again. It was the summer of 2006. Curt was still the Artistic Director but was planning his retirement soon. I was now the chair of Theatre at Bradley, Eli had just finished her PhD at Illinois State University, and Callista was “such stuff as dreams are made on!” Beka, Aaron (now a father himself), and Jesse were all living in Texas on their own now so Eli was free to join me in Kentucky for the whole summer. We packed our house up in Peoria, invited a student to house-sit while we were gone, and rented a house in Louisville. To give Eli some time for herself to explore the area, we enrolled Callista in Shakespeare Camp. For part of each day she was enjoying the Bard and continuing her our journey with Shakespeare. (By eight years old Callista was already a veteran with Shakespeare having played “the Baby” in Romeo and Juliet at the age of 2 weeks – that is also another story.) Having seen more Shakespeare than any other child her age, Callista was excited about the camp, so much so we bought her a series of books called Shakespeare for Kids by Lois Burdett and began reading her (and her reading to us) the stories every night. At the camp, they studied Shakespeare and Elizabethan Theatre, practiced text and verse, and learned how to dance and sword fight! As a final performance, the class presented a cutting of Romeo and Juliet and who do you think was cast to play Tybalt! I was one proud papa when my little girl ran on the festival stage and declaimed her line:
“What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:
Have at thee, coward!”
The sword fight was done in slow motion for obvious reasons but was thrilling all the same!
Later that same night, Callista and I switched places as I played Duke Senior and Duke Frederick in As You Like It. It was a memory filled day and as I tucked my beautiful girl to bed that night, I began to wonder about our future together on stage – Would one day I play Lear or Prospero to Callista’s Cordelia or Miranda? Who knows? I simply smiled. The point is we shared a moment that is forever in our lives and Shakespeare was the connection.
So Thursday night as we sat in Central Park once again enjoying the work of the actors on Kentucky Shakespeare Festival stage, my daughter sat curled in my arm and I knew in my heart what Shakespeare (and Eli) had given me. The journey continues.
Happy Father’s Day!
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