In My Life's Sunset

Just wanted to share something. I've come to realize I fairly much started my life with performing when I graduated from Kindergarten. We Kindergarten graduates had some kind of "performance" our teacher put together. My first role in "Musical Theatre" was Little Tommy Tucker singing for his supper. I sang "Oh, Susanna." I remember I made my "entrance" through some type of archway, said something about being Little Tommy Tucker and singing for my supper. Another kid was supposed to give me my cue line by saying something like, "Sing for us, Tommy." But he didn't. So, inexperienced as I was, I turned to him and told him to tell me to sing. He did, and I did.

I went on to perform in stuff in elementary school. I don't remember much about Junior High, but I performed in High School plays. I actually wrote and directed my Senior Class High School play..."The Terrible Teller of Tall Tales From Texas Takes a Trip to Town, or, Grandpa Comes to Visit." I've always liked alliteration! I was extremely active in college drama and eventually got my M.A. with a Theatre Major and an English Minor...wrong combination, but that's what my advisers told me to do. I believe the right combo would have been Theatre and History, since they're pretty much inseparable. I directed plays in high school, college, community theatre, and churcn theatre. Some of you were even actually my drama students. We had a great time, didn't we?

Life took me into performing as Promotional Personas for such companies as Captain D's Restaurants nationwide (the personification of Capt. D). Captain Noah for Charlotte Red Lobster Restaurants, Tropic Al for Tropic Al's Restaurant in a Holiday Inn Resort, Capt. P.T. Townsend, town greeter/storyteller for Port Townsend, WA, and, of course, a long run as Santa Claus. I was a solo professional storyteller when I met my wife, Vashti, and we traveled the nation as "The StorySingers," performing our shows in schools, churches, community events, and performing arts centers. What an incredible, amazing time that was!! I wish you could have been in one of our audiences. It was pure magic!! I hasten to mention Judy Bell also as a co-performer in our church music ministry as well as traveling with us to some retreat performances.

Life swept me into jobs as marketing liaisons and customer service reps in call centers, but, even in those, I used my background in public performance. I was laid off in a mass layoff in 2011. I did everything I was "supposed to do" in going back to school to upgrade my computer skills, working with the AZ State Workforce Office, and, literally...LITERALLY, I say...sending out 2 REAMS OF RESUMES AND COVER LETTERS! I experienced Ageism first-hand.

So...what's the point of all this?

I have come to the conclusion that, if I started out my life performing and lived the great majority of my life as an actor (as well as a director), then, By Heaven, I am going to spend the last part of my life "going back to my roots" in acting. Currently, I don't want to go back to the stage and "live theatre" because it's really a drain in rehearsals and runs. Presently, I'd rather focus on film work because, although filming itself can be draining, there's no "run" to it...you film it, and it's done. That's why I drove to Tucson and back yesterday, spent long hours waiting for my scenes in a short film, "Cactus Boy," going over many takes per scene, slipping on gravel and hurting my heel, and, at my age, pushing my physical limits in driving a "hard-running car" in high-speed interstate traffic. But my acting for that particular film is now done. No run on a stage to it. That's why I continue to audition wherever I can for whatever roles I may fit. That's why I've had roles in other short films, "The Witch Interviews" and "Rebel Deck." That's why I will perform Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart" at a Phoenix-area English Tea Room on October 28. That's why I reach out to any film maker, producer, casting director, or director reading this article. That's why I'm willing to travel to wherever I can to act in a film, commercial, or television drama/comedy.

At any rate, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. I want to finish my life as I began it, stepping through a kindergarten-made archway to announce I'm Little Tommy Tucker and I sing for my supper...to perform...to act...to go back to my roots and attempt to finish what I started so long ago. So, as my life's sun begins to set and twilight approaches, I want the Kleig Lights to be my sun, lighting me up and the camera to infuse me with the performance energy that only acting and performing can bring because it's an energy like no other.

Yes, I want to also be an integral, supportive editor and even co-writer for my wife Vashti's writing which, thankfully, she has begun. Her...our...first book "MEMORIES: Chronicles of a Grateful Life" should be available online through Amazon or on our to-be-completed website by Christmas. She...we...are now on her second book "The Story of Verna Louise Williams. OVERCOMING. Book One. A Fictional Autobiography." This writing is extremely important! So, too, is returning to finish what I started decades ago...to belatedly honor and recognize what my Uncle Walter and Aunt Voncile Woolfolk wanted to do in supporting me at a young age to go to New York to break into the acting field...an offer rejected by my parents in their loving wisdom shaped by Great Depression upbringing.

So there you have it. An old man reaching back into his personal past to the little boy that he was and saying, "Come on. Take my hand and let's go finish what we started before our sun completely sets and the darkness comes upon us."