St. Edward's University Hilltopper (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, November 5, 1982 Page: 4 of 6
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Arts
November 5, 1982
HILLTOPPER page 4
Interview Interview Interview Interview Interview
Richard Russel Ramos: Leaving unobtrusively
7
‘I‘m trying to be a catalyst, rather than an end result.
Staff Photo by David Opiela
His background is in classical you find it hard to keep up with cur-
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Staff Photo by David Opiela
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"My main reason for coming here is to get at the
temperature control of this building. ‘
Road” with veteran actor John
Carradine, and starred in “No Sex
I am sitting in the publicity office
of the Mary Moody Northen
Theatre. I am sitting across the
asked to record “The Windmills of
Your Mind” for the soundtrack of
The cast list for “Dark at the Top
of the Stairs,” the upcoming pro-
duction at the Mary Moody Nor-
then Theatre which opens on Nov.
9, is as follows: Cora Flood, Julie
Jirousek; Rubin Flood, Don Seay;
Sonny Flood, John Schoultz; Ren-
nie Flood, Margaret Johnson; Flirt
Conroy, Karyn Korzenko; Morris
Lacey, Craig Kanne; Lottie Lacey,
Virginia Johnson; Punky Givens,
Chris Sylvestri; Sammy Bolden-
It’s the job of any director to be
unobtrusive—his hand should not
show. I’d like to leave behind a zeal
to learn everything about their
craft, a refusal to be discouraged
with conditions as they are, and a
commitment to create a better en-
vironment for any theater they go
into, and to think of themselves as
initiators, not as victims. I want
them to take pride in not just
themselves, but in contributing to
the arts—to keeping us human.
On a day off, I drove to Albany to
catch a plane to Pittsburgh to con-
nect with a plane to Minneapolis to
do a 10-and-one-half hour casting
session for the Midwestern premier
of “The Day Room.” Then I had
to catch a plane back to catch a
connection in Buffalo to return to
Albany in time to drive back to
Stockbridge for a performance.
You can see that you sometimes
don’t get to experience where you
are. Sometimes it’s exciting; at the
'If I encourage mediocri-
ty, I will eventually have
to work with it. ’
I guess the first thing is, what are
you doing here? I mean, what are
you trying to accomplish?
My purpose is to, through the
production of “The Dark at the
Top of the Stairs,” is to get
students used to a professional way
of working. Not only will they
receive education, but I will make
the public to seeing well-realized
productions, rather than names.
The only way to do that is to
something behind—values, skills, in
the hopes that work will continue
and development will continue after
I leave. I’m trying to be a catalyst,
rather than an end result. If produc-
tions by students improve in quali-
ty, part of the joy of coming to this
theater will be to see students im-
prove from production to produc-
tion and season to season.
baum, Grey Woodyear. Under-
study of Cora Flood is Pepper Min-
ton; understudy for Rubin Flood is
Rob Muir.
Production crew is as follows:
Stage Manager, Elise Wagner;
Assistant Director, Laura O’Bar;
Production Stage Manager, Mark
Landis; Production Designer, Jim
Carroccio; Costume Designer,
Susan Loughran; Property Master,
Lance A. Smith.
“Sleuth,” he, along with Maggie
and children William and Chloe
(twins), will head for TV-land, Los
Angeles. “I hope to land another
job or two,” said Harrison. “If
not, it’ll be back to Nova Scotia.”
Does he miss his home in Nova
Scotia (that he designed and built
himself)? “Yeah.”
consciously. I have to uncover the
process in order to teach it. They
have to uncover the aspects about
which they know the least.
What about those Brewers? Do
By ERIC SHEPHARD
Editor
By CIAN CONNERY
Staff Writer
Noel Harrison: turning dreams into realities
_ - - - - —....... "No one else sings so much like
‘Dark’ opens next Tuesday
, -
alammasno
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as a magician on a weekly children’s
show in San Francisco. This led to
nightclub work, where he started
writing his own material. Other acts
wanted him to write, which he did.
He did all this to make money dur-
ing college. When he was not
writing skits, he was writing the col-
lege catalogue. Ramos said,
“Sometimes, there was very little
difference. ‘‘
That’s something they don’t get
from seeing a performer one time.
You seem concerned with educa-
tion.
I’m not really a teacher. I think
teaching and performing are
either. Through years of ex-
perience, I have assimilated skills
and knowledge that I use un-
I 11
(
repertory. He was given a
fellowship called the McKnight by
the University of Minnesota, where
he met current theatre director Don
Seay.
The room is deathly cold. He
asks me if I mind if he smokes, then
launches into the interview without
a question from me.
“My main reason for coming
here is to get at the temperature
control of this building,he jokes,
putting on a sweater.
ble to have continuity. There, they
work more often. Actors can have
careers on stage and in films. Here,
we can make more money—if we
can get the work.
What about the trend for
Hollywood starts returning to the
stage, like Elizabeth Taylor, Rac-
quel Welch, and others who’ve
started doing Broadway?
It takes so long a time to develop
a stage actor. The business of peo-
ple dropping in to do shows is con-
tributing to the devaluation of the
American theater. We are dealing
with businessmen, professional pro-
ducers interested in packaging
shows with only box offic in mind.
By doing this, the public becomes
mis-informed as to what theater is.
It also shutting out actors who’ve
spent their lives trying to perform
on stage.
What’s worse is that when these
businessmen have success in the
theater, they’re reinvesting the
money in other businesses. So they
don’t feed, but sap the theater.
What we need the most are ar-
tist/producers.
How do you gauge your own suc-
cess?
I always like it when I think I’ve
turned on the talents of people in a
production, so that ability increass
and manifests itself in shows later.
It’s trying to make the sum greater
than the parts, and increase the
standards of quality.
I live in this business—everything
comes back to haunt me. If I en-
courage mediocrity, I will eventual-
ly have to work with it.
How would you like people to
remember you?
I’d prefer not to be remembered.
I would rather have them say
“These students are good. If they
had a good director, they’d be
brilliant!”
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same time, it’s lamentable. I very
much need to get away right
now—not just for rest, but to get
fresh perspective on my work. The
demands are sometimes an-
tagonistic to functioning well as an
artist. I miss not living in a house.
You sound like King Pellinore
from “Camelot.
Only got to live in a house for a
short period as a kid. My father
always travelled, and I swore never
to live like that.
It’s a by-product of the size of
this country. In England, it’s possi-
the award-winning “Tobacco by Leonard Cohen. Harrison was
Please, We’re British.” In 1981,
Harrison again took on the actor’s
seminar, and directed Sandy Dennis
in “The Lady’s Not For Burning”
by Christopher Fry. He also starred
in “The Roar of the Grease Paint,
the Smell of the Crowd.”
This British actor/composer/
director grew up under the looming
shadow of his father, Rex Harrison.
Harrison left school at age 15 and
became a competitive skier on two
British Olympic Ski Teams, bet-
ween the ages of 15 and 20. He also
put in a two-year tour-of-duty with
the British Army.
But Harrison is also a composer
and singer. His first record cut,
“The Younger Girl” by Charles
Aznavour, hit the Top 40. Another
successful song was “Suzanne”
demands on their commitment, Massachusetts. We had a 13-hour-
share information about the profes- day with a day off every other
sional theater, and try to re-orient week. I was acting in three plays.
the movie, “The Thomas Crown
Affair.” The song went on to win
an Academy Award for Best Song
in a Motion Picture. Harrison also
cut three albums, “Collage,” “San-
ta Monica Pier,” and “The Great
Electric Experiment Is Over.”
When asked if he would like to cut
another album Harrison responded,
“Yeah, sure! But where do you get
the capital, dear?”
In a project in which he hopes to
wed the best of his talents, Harrison
is now putting together a one-man
show revolving around folk-
singer/composer Jacques Brel.
Harrion’s projected opening date is
in September of 1983, in conjunc-
tion with the anniversary date of
Brel’s demise. “There’s probably
no one better qualified to play Brel
than Noel,” stated wife, Maggie.
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hnNda
rent events?
I’m illiterate about most things
because I travel constantly. The
research I have to do for upcoming
productions, and the people I need
to meet keep me in the dark. An ac-
tor, once the show is up, only has
the night to worry about. He’s free
during the day. The director is fired
when the show opens.
If you want to stay working, you
experience stack-up. If you want to
make a living, you can’t work on
one show at a time. You have to
think about and plan upcoming
shows. I’m also an actor, which
complicates things, so I rarely get a
day off.
I’m either traveling, meeting,
having a costume fitting, or going
to an audition. Take this summer
for example.
I was at the Berkshire Theater
Festival in Stockbridge,
Actor and entertainer Noel Har-
rison was recently in Dallas for
a run of Anthony Shaffer’s
“Sleuth.”
Harrison played Milo Tindle (and
Inspector Doppler and Detective
Sergeant Tarrant and Police Con-
stable Higgs) opposite Douglas
Fairbanks, Jr., who played Andrew
Wyke. “Sleuth’’ played at
Granny’s Dinner Theatre from
Sept. 21-Oct. 17, and was enthu-
siastically received.
Noel Harrison was at St. Ed-
ward’s University for two extended
periods in 1980 and 1981 when he
was the guest artist-in-residence at
Mary Moody Northen Theatre.
While here in 1980, Harrison con-
ducted an actor’s seminar, directed
Brel.” It is certain that Harrison
clearly understands the
Frenchman’s sense of humanity. “I
hope to turn this dream into a reali-
ty,” commented Harrison thought-
fully.
Now that Harrison has com-
pleted his successful run of
room from one Richard Ramos (say separate things. Few people can do
“Ray-mos”), the guest director them both. Fewer people can do
here to direct “Dark at the Top of them both well.
the Stairs,the upcoming show. One of the problems working
Ramos began his career as a pup- with me is that they don’t know
peteer. He became a union member what they don’t know. I don’t
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St. Edward's University Hilltopper (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, November 5, 1982, newspaper, November 5, 1982; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1519053/m1/4/: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting St. Edward’s University.