The Village Squire, 1981-10, Page 8LITTLE THEATRE
A passion to entertain
Eighty miles round trip. Two and a half
to three trips a week. Fifteen to twenty
weeks.
All of this after his normal working day
and all for no money.
For most it would be a pain. For Floyd
Herman it's a passion, a craving to
entertain people, to make them laugh, to
help them escape if only for a few hours.
Floyd Herman is a thirty-year-old actor,
an amateur actor. He and scores of others
like him are what keep little theatre alive
throughout western Ontario.
A teacher by profession (eight years at
Grey Central in Ethel and now in his
second year at Colborne Central, just
outside Benmiller), Herman was bitten
by the stage bug back in his high school
days in tobacco -belt Delhi.
The symptoms included a driving desire
to perform, and the cure, he found, was in
roles with school and youth group
productions. At least it was a step in the
right direction. He's not sure there is a
cure.
After secondary school there were stints
with the York University Players, the
Kitchener -Waterloo Little Theatre and
rural community theatre to help Grey
Central's home and school association
raise money.
Now there is the Grey -Wellington
Theatre Guild and Herman is looking
forward to his fourth season with what he
calls "the most professional amateur
group I've ever worked with." Somewhat
less he is looking forward to all the time he
must once again spend piloting his '79
Chrysler back and forth to Harriston from
his home in Blyth. Eighty miles round
trip
He uses the road time to unwind, plan
his next day or, more often, recite at full
volume the lines he's expected to know at
the three-hour rehearsal.
He remembers the driving being a
problem on just one occasion. It was
during a week-long run and he was late
leaving home. He decided on an untried
short-cut but icy roads sent him through a
t -intersection and into the ditch. The
theatre had no phone so he called the
director's wife at home. She relayed the
message and the stage manager was
dispatched to lend assistance.
"The play was Not With My Daughter
and we got to the theatre a minute before
the curtain went up," says Herman. "I
was playing the taxi driver and fortunately
Floyd Herman
I didn't have to appear until the first scene
of the second act. So I had time to get into
costume and everything went fine."
Passion such as Floyd Herman's have
destroyed family life and marriages. In
this case his wife, Liz, shares in the
passion and daughter Laura, at two and a
half, sleeps through a lot of it. "I haven't
found any cutback in family time yet,"
says father Floyd, "though it might affect
me in the future when Laura gets older."
The Hermans were married while both
of them were involved with the K -W little
theatre's production of The Boyfriend in
1977. The wedding was followed by a
whirlwind three-day honeymoon in New
York City (chosen for its playbill) and they
made it back in time for the play's final
dress rehearsal. "It was pretty crazy,"
says Floyd, "teaching up here, all that
commuting, and getting married. I sort of
wonder now how we worked it all in, but I
guess you find time if you have to."
In the summer of last year the Hermans
moved from their converted school house
in Grey Township to mainstreet Blyth,
where they opened the Blyth Saga. a gift
and craft shop. They bought the building
and their living quarters are upstairs. The
store is a dream -come -true for Liz, and a
broader economic base for her family. For
her husband it's a little bit of temptation,
with the Blyth Summer Festival, and its
company of professional actors, right
across the street.
The yearning to do a professional role
has always been with Floyd Herman,
though the passing of time and the settling
of ways have slashed greatly into the
probability.
"1 suppose if I'd really wanted to do it I
would have," says Herman. "But I've just
finished the principal's course and I want
to start a master's of education this fall.
"Sometimes there are conflicts, usually
time conflicts, but there's never any
question about which comes first. My job
is teaching and it has to come first. There
are good days and bad days for both
teaching and acting but a professional
actor has nothing to fall back on. I have
teaching.
"Still, I think that's what I admire about
them (the professionals). They are willing
to take those chances. Sometimes I
wonder if some of us amateurs aren't
professionals without guts."
There are professionals who likely
would say that Floyd Herman has the best
of both worlds. And on most days Floyd
Herman would agree . He loves the
classroom because that's as much a stage
for him as the Harriston townhall. And he
loves directing his school kids in their
annual productions.
"To be a good teacher you have to be
part actor," he says, "and my night time
experiences are just an extension of that.
It's just another part of me. Little theatre
seems to bring enjoyment to a lot of people
and it's nice to be a part of that. I think any
community group. a service club or
theatre or whatever, can only add to a
town.
"And I think the people who are
involved in little theatre get as much out of
it as they give. We all think in terms of
what we are giving but we are also getting
something. For us it's a social life and we
have a whole new circle of friends because
of it. I think people who have thought
about getting involved, should.
"What makes Harriston so good is that
they have the right mix of people, for
props, for publicity, for acting, for
directing. And they have organization.
Not everybody has to act or wants to act. It
takes a variety and little theatre means
different things for different people."
For Floyd Herman it has meant
thousands of miles, long nights, and sixty
to eighty roles in thirty to forty plays. I t 's
also meant that rush that comes with a
standing ovation.
He can't imagine his life without it.
PG. 8 VILLAGE SQUIRE/OCTOBER 1981