After quitting my job as a salesman for an industrial corporation in Elmira, New York I moved to Buffalo in the summer of 1970 as I was accepted into SUNY Fredonia in September. I attended a performance at the African American Cultural Center of Soul Gone Home, by Langston Hughes and Zoo Story, by Edward Albee. I was so enthralled by the experience I signed up for acting classes the next day. Eventually I was cast in Metaphors by Martin Duberman which was my first acting experience. I enjoyed everything about the process and the people I was working with.
My first year in college majoring in business proved not to be a fit. I enrolled in a theatre summer intensive and switched my major to theatre. After I graduated the executive director of the African American Cultural center,Edward Lawrence hired me as the production stage manager. He was responsible for developing the theatre and purchasing the property that the center stands on today. In the 1980’s we shared the stage in a production of A tempest at Ubu Repertory Theatre. I still look to him as a mentor today.
