Memories of "Snoopy!!!"

 

The musical was Snoopy!!!, a lesser-known follow-up to You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, produced by Jackson County Community Theater, in a small, storefront former movie theater in Brownstown, Indiana, August 16-24, 1991. I was awarded a trophy for Best Actor in a Lead Role because of my work as Snoopy.

My bio: DEWEY ROTH was transplanted to Brownstown in January of 1990, when he became the youth minister at the Brownstown Christian Church. While this is his first production with JCCT, Dewey is no stranger to local theatre. His previous credits, in the Ft. Wayne area, include the Danny Kaye role in Inspector General, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, Fagin in Oliver, Jeffery in Godspell, and many others.

"Thank you for all your time, patience, and talent with the show. I appreciate the sacrifices you made in making this show work. Hope you remain involved in the theatre for years to come. It's been great getting to know you and your family. Break a leg!

David "Earl" [the director]

P.S. One lady thought you were in school.

It's a big statement about my youth ministry workload at Brownstown for me to have been able to be involved in a theater production AND be a youth minister. This was the ONLY time in over 14 years when that ever happened. Having a member of the youth group in the cast probably made it a little more acceptable.

Brownstown Diary, January 1990

 [In September of 2023, I came across an old journal of mine from when I first moved to Brownstown, Indiana to begin my second youth ministry position. It's interesting to read how I waffled from inspiration to discouragement and back again.]

7 Sunday  -  Congregational Vote @ Brownstown. 100% acceptance

10 Wednesday  -  Farewell Fellowship Meal @ Cedar Creek

12 Friday  -  Moving Day: Bob Link drove his truck. I can't really say how many people helped us get moved into the house! I just kept chucking the stuff out of the truck, and they kept carrying it into the house (usually the basement). Debbie got curtains up before we went to bed. Chili supper @ the church for all the movers.

13 Saturday  -  Unpack, unpack, unpack

15 Monday  -  Got the girls into Brownstown Elementary. Opened checking & savings accounts @ People's Bank. And in the office...unpack, unpack, unpack. I wonder how long it will take to learn how things operate around here? * KD, secretary, is very helpful. GM, preacher, wasn't in the office all day. Does he really want me here? Lord, defeat these feelings of disappointment and distrust within me RE GM. Brownstown obviously needs some spark, and I really think they want it, too! "Let your light so shine before men..."

16 Tuesday  -  Yes, I do have a problem with church leaders (elders) not coming to Sun. PM worship. Lord, help me not to be judgmental, but an optimistic, upbeat, positive spark in the life of BCC!

17 Wednesday  -  Went home 2:30ish and laid down.

18 Thursday  -  Spent my first day off with a version of the flu that made me achey in the head and back with no appetite, etc. Felt okay by evening.

19 Friday-21 Sunday  -  What a weekend! We rushed Kelly to the hospital in Seymour Friday morning so Dr. Gallagher could do a spinal tap to check for meningitis...negative. Kelly has been in the hospital ever since though, getting re-hydrated through IV and working through whatever viral infection she has that's causing the fever. * The church people are really being great through all this. So many offers of help with the kids, laundry, sitting with Kelly...whatever. They want to be used! * Lord, help me to keep it all together. And strengthen Debbie to do that, too. And may I somehow start getting things moving as far as the church is concerned, too?

22 Monday  -  Kelly's IV may come out tomorrow morning, and then they'll keep her for 24 hours to ensure her temp will stay put. * What did I accomplish today? Ate too much at a ministers' breakfast. Found some Plasti-tac squirreled away in the corner of a closet in the church building. Put up the rest of my wall things in the office. Started sorting through the paper stuff from my briefcases and the move, etc. Debbie, I miss you!

23 Tuesday  -  Life sure would be hard w/o Debbie. Yeah, I'd get used to it and be able to work out a routine and rhythm for getting all the "stuff" of life accomplished, but Curtis & Kelly would be raised by someone who's paid to do it, and Angel & Shonda would have to become much older than their years much faster than they ought. And I would be a lonesome man w/o much reason to do anything.

24 Wednesday  -  Brought Kelly home from the hospital today! Shonda stayed home from school, but she'll be fine tomorrow. * Did the community storywriting thing tonight in Youth Hour. Went over GREAT!

25 Thursday  -  Am I devoted to doing youth ministry here for a while? Or am I here because it was the thing that came along? Lord, destroy these seeds of doubt and let me attack Brownstown with your Holy Fury, bringing the forces of Satan to their trembling, apathetic knees!

26 Friday-28 Sunday  -  Winter Weekend @ CBC $27. Really good weekend with Penny, Lori, Scott, Justin, and Joe. Adult sponsors: John Spurgeon & Barbie Gaiter

29 Monday  -  Experienced my first board meeting tonight. A lot of committees aren't doing anything. And there was a lot of discussion about a "non-proposal" by the elders RE new structure for church leadership. No decision. * Debbie is talking to her mom on the phone right now (9:26 pm) Blah, blah, blah... * Moses (our new puppy) almost got given back this morning, but it looks like Curtis & Kelly are going to warm up to him after all, and he may actually get housebroken and flea-freed.

30 Tuesday  -  Major flu day for Debbie. You know, I am so lucky/blessed to have a job that's flexible enough to let me help at home at times like these. * Today, the "stuff" started to come to light. Expectations started to surface. Personality conflicts among the members are showing up. Lord help me live up to Your expectations and to be a peacemaker and initiator of dreams...

Cincinnati Bible College Career at a Glance

 

Call this an effort to digitize some paper records and declutter my home office.

Memories of "The Inspector General"

 

The Inspector General was eventually turned into a movie musical starring Danny Kaye, but I was in First Presbyterian Theater's production of the original play by Nikolai Gogol...even though I DID have Danny Kaye's role, Ivan Alexandrovitch Hlestakov, a clerk from the Capital that everyone in town mistakenly believes is the Inspector General...come to town in order to clean up the place and get rid of the corrupt politicians.

This was one of the few non-musical shows I was ever in after high school, and the only time Fort Wayne had the opportunity to see me in a "starring" role. It was entirely appropriate for Denny Bechtelheimer to have been the one to direct me, as we had worked together several times before, not the least of which was when he was Jesus in Godspell with Beloved and me.

Strongest memory: With Denny's direction, I discovered that specific blocking really helped me memorize my lines for the lengthy scene in Act Three in which I became increasingly drunk. That scene also led to my castmates wanting me to over-imbibe at cast parties, but I didn't touch a drop.

"Next comes Dewey Roth as the clerk taken for the Inspector General. Roth has a wonderful role, the most usual of all the folks on stage but animated by a no-holds-barred ego that lets him fly high and free through the hilarious scene back at the Mayor's parlor after a banquet lunch. As he gets drunker and drunker, the stories get taller and taller, but the townspeople stick right with him, heightening the hilarity."  -  Connie Trexler, News-Sentinel

"Dewey Roth plays the opportunistic freeloader the townspeople mistake for the inspector general. His first appearance comes in the second act, an act which unfortunately is needed for introduction purposes, but which goes on interminably and, as staged by Bechtelheimer, rather dully despite Roth jumping over and under and around the small space. Escaping from that, however, Roth comes alive in the final two acts and makes them his. His drunken scene is a mindboggler."  -  Roxanne T. Mueller, Journal Gazette

"Roth is refreshing and bon vivant, as he charms the heart of everyone on stage."  -  Susan Horine, The Communicator

"His Royal 'Fakeness'  -  Dewey,
       Oh boy. Here I am, ready to tell you how much I appreciate you and what you've done for the show...I don't exactly know how...
       You have made this show a delight  -  I mean that. Hlestakov is everything I ever hoped he would be  -  and more.
       I am privileged to know you, to work with you again on a show, and to call you a good buddy. Thanks.
       Love, Denny"

Memories of "Winterthing"

 

This was a strange little play at First Presbyterian Theater, November 23-December 2, 1979. It was directed by Godspell's choreographer, Lynn Hillsamer Blosser, with whom, for some reason I can't remember, Beloved and I spent the night once and enjoyed a hash and eggs breakfast.

A piece of direction I received in this show sticks in my memory. I was putting a lot of volume and anger in a particular line and Lynn suggested I try the line again, but to hold all that emotion inside. It instantly made the whole scene feel better and actually gave that particular line MORE power.

The young gal (maybe 10 at the time?) who played my youngest sister, Melanie Wharton, was super smart and cute. She once spent the night with Beloved and me. It must have been that she came home with us after a Sunday matinee performance because she came to the little radio station in Decatur, IN where I did a Sunday night shift (kinda like a hobby I got paid for). We ordered a pizza from a little place across the street and when she brought it into the studio, she plopped it down on the turntable...that was currently playing a record on the air. I did a little "Augh! No!", she screamed and ran out and I may have traumatized her for life.

No, that's not me on the left, but I think we all know which part I'd play if I was doing the show NOW (2023)

"Dewey Roth as Jakin and Melanie Wharton as Carilan capitalize on the juiciest parts in the play and are thus able to establish definite characterizations which the other principals fall short of doing. Wharton could be called a modern Jane Withers. She's so insufferably whiney and snotty that you tend to cheer Roth on when he tells her to shut up." [Roxanne Mueller - Journal Gazette]

Just remembered...I supplied the wolf howl that ended each performance.

Memories of "Godspell"

 

This special show, retelling the parables of Matthew and Luke with vaudevillian humor and acoustic rock music, was my first show with First Presbyterian Theater, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the means of Beloved and I meeting and "falling in love."

It was her first involvement in musical theater and my...umpteenth.

With performances May 12-21, 1978, it was just a few years after Godspell had been a hit on Broadway and only five years after the far-less-successful movie. A couple hundred people auditioned, but only 14 were cast (and also a couple mimes that mostly stayed on the sidelines...don't really remember WHAT they did). Because the show was originally written for a cast of 10, we played around with the parts and solos. I mostly did Jeffery's lines and had his solo, "We Beseech Thee".

Once the initial herd was whittled into a more-manageable 30 or so, the audition process, in addition to singing a song, was mostly a series of theater improvisational games, which I loved. Once cast, there was a high level of actor input for our costuming and clown makeup design. (It's not in the couple of early promo photos below, but I ended up wearing a colorful Walt Disney World hat that I borrowed from my "baby" sister.

This was, without a doubt, my favorite theatrical involvement of all time. Between the subject matter and the sheer FUN of it all, there is no competition.

Fun Fact: Opening night featured the opportunity for dinner and the show if you were willing to shell out $7.50 a ticket!

"Debbie Ann Brewer, with her doll-face makeup and outfit, is outstanding on what I think is the show's most beautiful song, 'By My Side'." - Roxanne T. Mueller, Journal Gazette

"Dew-Dew! It isn't difficult to allow freedom to an actor as disciplined as you. Your talent, your warmth and especially your supportive attitude carried me through several rough times in Godspell's life. I sincerely look forward to working with you again. Your head's in a grand place, Mr. Roth. You witness well! Love, JT" [Director]

"My special thanks. You do the nicest things in the nicest way! Love, Debbie [Given when she wasn't sure if we would ever see each other after the play was done.]

Memories of "Kiss Me Kate"

The musical was Kiss Me Kate, produced by Arena Dinner Theatre at the Chamber of Commerce, Fort Wayne, Indiana, October 14-29, 1977. I was awarded the Arena Theater Award for Best Actor in a Minor Role in a Musical for my work as Nate, Hortensio, and Dancer.

Strongest memories: trying to sing and dance on a tiny side-stage while wearing a mask and loaded down with a garden hose and 3 or 4 additional props; running down a hallway to make it to my next entrance; learning how to play a few notes on a mandolin for a scene.

My bio: Dewey Roth was last seen on the Arena stage in Lend an Ear, the musical revue for which he was nominated for a best acting award. He has appeared with Purdue Indiana Theatre in Ah, Wilderness and 1776, also with the Little Theatre of Northern Wells in Li'l Abner, The Boyfriend, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He is a graduate of Norwell High School where he was active in the theatre program and attended Indiana Purdue at Fort Wayne. He is currently a radio announcer for WFWR Radio here in Fort Wayne.

"Dearest Dewey, Thank you for being talented, dependable, professional, supportive, and a good friend. And a special thanks for the enjoyable dream!

Lynda [our choreographer]

"Dewey - I just want to say..."ABOUT TIME we did a show together!" Thanks for ALL (every single bit) your work and encouragement. Everything you do to make this show work is beautifully executed. Break a leg.

Love, Denny [the director]