I was accepted into the MFA Professional Actor Training Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1986. One of the promises of attending UNC-CH was that PlayMakers Repertory Company, a LORT D theater, was the resident professional theater on campus, and that should I survive the first two years, my third year I would be hired as an Equity company member. Well, my desire at the time was to receive my Equity card, so I did everything to make sure that I would be there for my third year.
I started my third year off with a bang, on a full Equity contract playing Figaro in Pierre Beaumarchais’ play The Marriage of Figaro (not the Mozart opera, which is an adaptation of the play). It was a magical moment, and the start of a magical 31 years as a proud and committed Equity member, from Broadway to regional theatre to LOA to 99-seat agreements; from Greek theatre to Shakespeare to Restoration comedy to Beckett to Wilson to children’s theatre, I am honored to be known as an Equity actor. Here’s to the next 31 + years!
