The Guiding Hands
by Dave Dunkle
The guiding hands at Totem Pole Playhouse are experienced indeed.
Actor Wil Love, who is marking his 35th year this summer at the professional theater in Caledonia State, and producing artistic director Carl Schurr, who has been coming to the woods for 30 consecutive years, are the backbone of Totem Pole.
Actors, set builders and backstage apprentices come and go at the theater, but year in and year out Love and Schurr work to keep artistic standards high.
Both men are Baltimore residents who spend each winter casting actors and each summer getting six plays out of the rehearsal hall and onto the stage.
Both direct and act in those productions. Love, the associate artistic director, has appeared in more than 130 productions and directed 30-plus others. Schurr has been the producer at Totem Pole since 1983.
Then there's stage manager Paul Mills Holmes, who is also marking his 30th year at the playhouse.
That's just about a century of experience.
During recent conversations, Love and Schurr shared some of their thoughts about their lives in the theater and the time they have spent at Totem Pole:

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Schurr: Port Huron, Michigan-60 miles north of Detroit across the lake from Canada.
Love: I was born in Butler, Missouri...a small town not at all unlike the fabled OUR TOWN in Thornton Wilder's famous play. It is located directly south of Kansas City, Missouri, about 65 miles and only a few miles east of the Kansas border. My family moved to Kansas' biggest city, Wichita, when I was beginning third grade and I grew up there.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST TPP PRODUCTION YOU WERE INVOLVED WITH?
Schurr: In 1975 Bill Putch asked me to do two leading roles in January Thaw and Move Over, Mrs. Markham. I was flattered to finally be on the great stage with to diverse acting challenges. At the end of that season Bill asked me to direct my first Totem Pole production: Sleuth.
Love: My first show was the male lead in HERE LIES JEREMY TROY. Henry Strozier and I were in all 10 shows that first summer of 1971...all done in 15 weeks.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST THEATRE EXPERIENCE?
Schurr: Believe it or not-when I was 3 or 4 years old doing imaginary shows in the arch between the living and dining rooms of our old house. I played all the roles and my family was the only audience. My folks were amazed that I would talk about putting up the stage curtain and drawing it open (all imaginary) and about scenery, etc., as I had yet to see a theatrical production and there was no television. My partner in crime was my good friend, Cherry Watson. Also imaginary.
Love: My first theatre experience was seeing some bizarre high school production in Butler, Missouri of GRANDPA STEPS OUT. Don't ask me what it was about but I was probably in second grade and have no idea why we were seeing it. Somewhere I think I located a copy of the script and I'd love to dig it out from WHEREVER it's buried and read it.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST BEGIN THINKING ABOUT A CAREER IN THEATER?
Schurr: I think I thought about it my entire life but it wasn't until I entered the University of Michigan that I began to take practical steps in this direction. Of course, my folks also made certain that I secured my teaching credentials because in that day and age if one couldn't secure a theatrical job-one could teach.
Love: I first began thinking about a career in theater when I was luckily accepted into a graduate theatre program as a resident actor at the Hilberry Classic Repertory Theatre at Wayne State University in Detroit. They auditioned all over the country and took about 12 actors to replace departing company members in their MFA and Ph.D. programs. We did 7-8 classics in rotating repertory (6 shows a week) for about 8 months. Great training that had everything to do with gaining experience onstage and not in the classroom. Finally, I had the courage to pursue it as a career. Would never have happened if I'd stayed in Kansas.

BIGGEST CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENT?
Schurr: Being asked to assume the Artistic Directors Chair at Totem Pole Playhouse.
Love: Nothing really in particular...managing to make a living, albeit modest, since I left home at 22 in my chosen profession without having to do ANY other type of work would be my biggest accomplishment, I guess. 95% of the actors in the union (Actors Equity Association) are out of work at any given moment. Not a pretty picture.

BIGGEST CAREER DISAPPOINTMENT?
Schurr: Although my years at the Playhouse have blessed me in many ways, the responsibilities of the position have prevented my traveling all the other avenues I would like to have explored.
Love: That I aged past the time for certain roles I'm now too old to play. It's interesting that by time you have gained enough "life experience" to play certain roles that are difficult, you often are just chronologically wrong for them. It's like seeing a 45-year-old Juliet.

FAVORITE ROLE?
Schurr: I suppose, because so many audience members have alluded to this through the years, the Count in the 1978 Totem Pole production of Dracula. However, I am very fond of playing the father in Proof, which Everyman Theatre presented last season. The production is a part of the 2005 Totem Pole season as well.
Love: Modern comedy would be Charlie in THE FOREIGNER. Classic comedy would be Archer in THE BEAUX' STRATAGEM. Musical would be John Adams in 1776. And, of course, I very much enjoy doing Scrooge in A CHRISTMAS CAROL...but only the adaptation that Carl and I created. There are some really crappy ones out there.

WILL THEATER SURVIVE?
Schurr: Despite the omnipresent threat created by the big screen and little screens, extravagant special effects (Disney and Las Vegas for example), video stores and all-I believe that theatre will always exist in some form. However, the world of theatre as we have known it has changed and is changing dramatically and that is why we are all very fortunate to have institutions such as Totem Pole Playhouse still in existence.
Love: Theatre will most likely always survive in some form or another. It began with caveman acting out their hunting exploits to the other cave residents and has continued and mutated ever since...well, a lot of standup comedy is not far from that I guess. I think people will always feel a need to entertain one another and the most rewarding is doing a LIVE performance. Actors feed on that live response like vampires on blood. Ya gotta have it.

HOBBIES OR OTHER INTERESTS?
Schurr: Gardening, cooking, going to yard sales and antique shows, entertaining friends, going out to dinner.
Love: I like finding collectibles and my taste is so eclectic that I have no particular "one thing" that attracts me. My biggest heartthrob is vintage automobiles and if, by some miracle, I should win the lottery I would probably spend it all on old cars. To me they are moving works of art.

HOW LONG DO YOU PLAN TO CONTINUE WORKING IN THEATER?
Schurr: A director once told me that "Endurance is the name of the game" so perhaps I'll be around for a bit longer. However, the world of theatre is so incredibly demanding that other interests are often not explored. I would love to travel.
Love: I will continue working in theater as long as I can learn lines and can get hired. I was once told that the secret to success in theater is staying alive and outliving the competition. But if I find I no longer enjoy doing it I would bow out before the brain dried up.

FAVORITE TOTEM POLE MOMENT?
Schurr: There are so many but perhaps the most telling was when Bill Putch invited me to join him and his family as a company member in 1975. If I hadn't come to Caledonia to visit Wil Love and Henry Strozier a few years earlier, you might well not be even asking me these questions. I have been extremely fortunate in that the Playhouse has given a shape to my life and career in the theatre.
Love: I can't think of one particular favorite moment at Totem Pole, but I can think of several terribly embarrassing ones. The most recent was opening night of the 50th anniversary season (THE GOOD DOCTOR) when I made an extremely quick change (less than 15 seconds) and realized that I had not "underdressed a pair of pants" and had to enter a park scene wearing only a long overcoat and hat. I then sang what was supposed to be a touching sweet song with Jayne Houdyshell, who fortunately did NOT see my skinny legs sticking out below the coat, as she would have crawled off the stage in hysterics.
Courtesy of The Patriot News. Harrisburg, Pa