Richardson — You'd never believe Robert Bartley has been in New York for 25 years, after cutting his theater teeth in Dallas, where he grew up. His boyish looks are a far cry from 49.
Bartley, who has worked as a director and actor on the regional circuit and Broadway (in Miss Saigon), and founded Broadway Backwards, an annual benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, is back in town to direct Pegasus Theatre's latest Living Black and White play, The Frequency of Death! This show was first done in the 1990s and has been reworked a bit.
Like all the Black and White shows, its stars Kurt Kleinmann (also the author and Pegasus founder) as detective Harry Hunsacker. This one takes us back to a 1930s radio show.
Bartley graduated from Bishop Lynch High School and then worked in area theaters like Theatre Three, Stage West and New Arts in the '80s. Although he never worked at Pegasus, he was enamored of the shows there, including the Hunsacker mysteries and the Charles Ludlam plays..
In this video interview, he talks about his first venture directing a Pegasus Black and White show, and working again in the area where he fell in love with theater.
The Frequency of Death! stars Susan Mansur (the original Doatsey Mae in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas on Broadway) and a terrific local cast, including Ben Bryant and Gordon Fox. It's playing at the Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson, and will then play for one weekend at the Medical Center of Lewisville Grand Theatre, a fantastic year-old performing arts venue.
Here's the video. Look for a review of the show soon on TheaterJones. (In some spots you have to turn up the volume; it was a windy day.)
