stage three productions at the Minetta Lane Theatre through February,
2016, including their popular
Nutcracker Rouge
during the holidays.
SANTA BARBARA:
THE INCUBATOR
FOR FUTURE ARTISTS
S
anta Barbara native son
Anthony (Tony) Edwards
, best known
as Dr. Green on the hit NBC series
ER
, has lived in NYC for
many years but still visits his parents regularly in Santa Barbara.
He appeared in Access Theatre’s award-winning production of
The
Boys Next Door
which opened Center Stage Theater 25 years ago,
along with Santa Barbara actor
Dirk Blocker
, a regular on Fox TV’s
Brooklyn Nine Nine
. Tony produced and directed his first film – an
My 35-year friendship with Tony began when we were kids –
both theatre enthusiasts who learned our craft from the legendary
teacher
Marjorie Luke
and others. We had no idea back in the ‘70s
where our training and paths would take us, but it is not surprising
that so many of Marj Luke’s students went on to enjoy great success
in the arts. Sure, it was fun producing elaborate plays and musicals,
but she instilled a strong work ethic and challenged us beyond what
we believed our limits were.
Other notable Santa Barbara Junior High students of Marj include
Saturday Night Live
alumnus
Brad Hall
and award-winning producer
Dante DiLoreto
. We performed together onstage at Santa Barbara
(from left)
Haven Mitchell, Marc Buckland, Anthony
Edwards, Dirk Blocker, and Richard Hochberg starred
in
The Boys Next Door
, which played at Center Stage
Theater in downtown Santa Barbara some 25 years ago
award-winning documentary on Access Theatre titled
Speaking
Through Walls
– that followed the national tour of our original
production
Storm Reading
.
Dante DiLoreto
(left)
was the Mayor of Dogpatch
and Rod Lathim (in straw hat, center) was Abner
in the 1973 Santa Barbara Junior High School
production of
Li’l Abner
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