Member Spotlight: Alexander Trice
This month’s Member Spotlight is Alexander Trice, who is joining Center Stage Jackson as the Stage Director and Props Master for our upcoming production of The Wizard of Oz.
Alexander is British-born and Detroit-raised, with a theatre background that stretches across directing, acting, technical theatre, design, props, puppetry and teaching. There’s also a pretty great connection between his own story and the production he’s directing for CSJ: Alexander grew up near Stratford-upon-Avon, and the Royal Shakespeare Company – who produced the version of The Wizard of Oz that CSJ will perform this fall – was one of his local childhood theatres.
Alexander previously ran his own theatre company in Detroit, Portable Folio Productions, for about three years, producing, directing and designing three productions. One of his favorite stories comes from their production of As You Like It, when a performer needed to play two characters who appeared in the same scene. Fortunately, one of those characters was dead. Alexander’s plan was to build a life-size mannequin resembling the actor that the rest of the cast could carry onstage.
The problem? Tech week arrived and the mannequin wasn’t finished.
By final dress rehearsal, Alexander abandoned the mannequin plan, left the light and sound booth, ran backstage, quick-changed with the actor and became the dead body himself.
“Moral of the story: I will put myself in a show that I am directing, but only in extreme circumstances. And only if I’m playing a dead character?”
As a performer, Alexander names Stanley in Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party with Mind-The-Gap Productions in Ann Arbor as his favorite role. It was also his most challenging, requiring significant character work, mental toughness and a huge amount of memorization. He served as technical director for that production as well.
Alexander continues to work on both sides of the stage. He is currently Technical Director and Teaching Artist at Ruhala Arts Centre in East Lansing and Scenic Technical Director at Waverly High School. He previously worked at Lyric Opera of Chicago and spent six seasons with Detroit Opera, and also served three seasons as Stage Manager for the Warren Symphony Orchestra. His background includes everything from teaching Shakespearean performance and puppetry to professional mascot work and even announcing boxing tournaments.
Outside of theatre, Alexander is dad to two pit bull brothers, enjoys cooking, botanical gardens and traveling, and is a big fan of steam locomotives and model railroading.
Ask Alexander about shows he would like to direct or design someday and the list is long. Tommy, Oliver!, Company, Dreamgirls, Young Frankenstein, Pippin, Matilda, Little Shop of Horrors, West Side Story, The 39 Steps, Hamlet, Noises Off and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) are just a few that make the cut.
For Alexander, the distinction between community and professional theatre doesn’t change the care he believes should go into the work.
“To pull off a show like this while everyone maintains their day jobs and family life: truly amazing!”
He sees community theatre as a place filled with talent and potential, and especially enjoys recognizing people’s strengths while also pushing performers to discover what else they’re capable of.
“I cannot wait to begin the journey of discovery for us all!”
We’re glad to have Alexander joining CSJ and leading the team bringing The Wizard of Oz to the stage this October.
