Stan Gill Wears Many Hats
BY VARUNI SINHA Special to The Post and Courier
May 31 2015 10:46 pm
Stan Gill arrives early for rehearsal at Footlight Players Theatre. It’s a trying spring day, but with his team still trickling in, the 65-year-old Gill decides to lug the equipment from his car himself. You can’t miss his sprightly gait, his restless eyes awaiting the rest of the crew. With “Princess and the Pea,” “Rumpelstiltskin” and “Mark Twain’s Final Tour” all appearing in this year’s Piccolo Spoleto Festival, he doesn’t feel like waiting.
The Detroit-born Gill has written 70 plays, including 30 musicals for children, and has served as the founder and artistic director of seven academic and professional theaters. He is also the director of Sprouts Children’s Theatre, the company behind the children’s musicals at Piccolo this year. But when he was 15, Gill dreamed of working for NASA.
“Science was my first love, even though I had started writing plays,” he said. “I had to pick a major in which I could maintain a 4.0 average; otherwise, they would send me off to war in Vietnam.” And that’s how he chose theater.
“I have always thought of theater as something that enriches our lives,” he said. “Furthermore, giving children an experience of seeing quality live theater with the actors, drama, costumes, sound and lighting ensures an educated future audience.” Gill said there is much work still to be done, judging from the amount of bad theater out there.
One big component of Sprouts productions is that it allows children in the audience to interact with the performers. Another is that adults can also enjoy the shows, many of which Gill writes, performs in, produces, designs and directs.
“Writing and teaching are the only aspects of theater that I enjoy the most,” he said. “They are each challenging and call for a global perspective.”
Actor Billy Turner, who has appeared in Sprouts productions, said Gill’s passion is obvious.
“There is a way in which Stan works that he really loves theater and cares about it,” Turner said. “And when he works with his team, he brings out that love in each one of us, bringing out the best in each artist.”
In “Mark Twain’s Final Tour,” Gill portrays local interviewers, foreign tour guides and Satan himself, as well as the title character.
“In college I decided to portray Mark Twain for Michigan State University, and it sold out,” Gill said. “I did it again and again, and every time it sold out. What I enjoyed was performing aspects of Twain’s writing that he didn’t perform himself. Mark Twain was one of the first stand-up comics, and (playing) him feels like talking to an old friend.”
Gill’s team had arrived, and it was time for rehearsal. On his way into the theater he bumped into a friend, a Sprouts colleague, and described how he recently played a stepsister in “Cinderella.” And with a few laughs, he quickly escaped into his dream world.
Published in The Post and Courier on May 31 2015 10:46 pm
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