Douglas Whaley

    I am honored to have been recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Evolution Theatre Company [ETC] here in Columbus, Ohio.   I suspect that my appointment has something to do with my theatrical adventures in acting and directing since I retired from teaching over ten years ago (16 shows in all) and my involvement in gay rights in this city.   The latter is particularly important because ETC has made the decision to change its mission to performing exclusively LGBT plays and musicals starting with the 2015 season.   This is an exciting endeavor, and I’m also pleased that I’ve been selected to direct one of the plays” “The Temeramentals.”   It’s the incredible story of Harry Hay and the Mattachine Society, the gay rights organization that was formed in 1950 (!), an era when gay men could be arrested for simply holding hands in a restaurant.   For more on Harry Hay and the terrors of that era see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattac...

[Click To Enlarge Any Photo] It’s been a long time since I was in a musical, but when Little Theatre Off Broadway [LTOB] in Grove City (a suburb of Columbus, Ohio) sent out audition notices for Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine’s “Into the Woods” last summer, my husband, David Vargo, suggested we should audition.   We did so and were promptly cast: he as the Big Bad Wolf (and also Cinderella’s Father) and me as the Mysterious Man.   It was first time for us to be in a show together, and that’s an experience we will always treasure. Most of the very large cast (the Act Two finale had 21 people singing and dancing on stage!) were young people, many in their twenties (four were still in high school, and the cow was played by an eleven year-old), lots of them music majors or experienced singers.   Sondheim’s music and lyrics are very complicated, and we were singing to a pre-recorded orchestral score, so the whole thing was quite a challenge.   Indeed both...