Moving Out West 1992

In 1992 Millikin had had an opening for a full-time Voice instructor with a specialty in Commercial Music. I applied and unfortunately did not get the job, and so was still looking for other opportunities. 

When I had done Summer Rep in Grand Lake, CO, I remember thinking if I could live in the mountains somewhere I would really love that. At a UFO conference I had gone to in Chicago, I met George Green who was the CEO of America West Publishing. He happened to be looking for someone to produce audio-books for his publications. I figured I could do that, and he hired me on a trial basis for the summer.

I moved out to Tehachapi, and after about a month part of his group moved up to Carson City, NV to take advantage of the benefits of incorporating in Nevada. At one point I even had my own corporation, Sound Bytes, Inc. I moved from Tehachapi to Carson City, and after the summer was done, they offered me a full-time job, so I flew back to Decatur, rented a truck, and said goodbye to the Midwest.

In late 1992 or early 1993, I'm not quite sure, the two groups got into an argument and sued each other. They decided to let me go from the company, but since Green's attorney needed help, I ended up going to work for him, while I started looking around again for jobs.

Bastien and Bastienne 1992

The last show I did at Millikin before I left to take a job producing audio-books for a publisher in Tehachapi, CA, was Bastien and Bastienne, a one-act opera that Mozart wrote when he was 12. I did the stage direction and it was part of a Student Recital given in March of 1992.

Brigadoon 1992

In February Theatre 7 in Decatur produced Brigadoon, and I got to play the role of Tommy Albright again. They actually set it in the present, so Jeff and I were not wearing period (1940s) costumes.

We got a nice review from Theresa Churchill at the Herald and Review. She was especially complimentary to me which was kind of her.

When we did Brigadoon at Illinois in 1986, during the song, "Almost Like Being in Love," I did a jump off of some set piece and went right into a cartwheel. I asked the director if I could try that again, he said "go for it," and I was lucky enough that the photographer caught me in mid-air.