Veteran Husband And Wife Team, William and Sue Wills, Begin 25th Year of Touring

In December of 1977, William Wills had just turned 30, was the acting General Manager of a 250 room Sheraton Hotel in the resort of Ocean City Maryland where he had begun working as a night auditor just 2 ½ years ago. His salary had tripled. his health insurance was fully paid by the company, he had a beautiful wife and three children ages 4, 2, and 6 months, could afford a new car, and would soon be offered the GM's job permanently. Nine months later, he would be jobless, have thousands of dollars in unpaid bills, and $18.36 in his saving account. What happened? William and his wife Sue decided to follow their hearts and seek their dreams.

In May of 1978, in Ocean City, the couple began Parker Productions, Inc. which would produce a musical theater for children and their families, a summer theater to produce Broadway shows, and various musical revues. After that atrocious beginning, the couple produced 4000 performances of their various shows for 20 seasons in Ocean City. As their run in the resort was nearing an end, the duo came upon a unique idea, or as Bill puts it, "the unseen Hand created a series of seemingly unconnected events which led to our second theatrical endeavor: Presidents and Their First Ladies, dramatically speaking".

Inspired by a Christmas present from Sue, William became interested in the lives of American Presidents and Their Wives. In 1991, the couple began teaching what they referred to as "dramatically read dialogues" for Elderhostel, now known as Rhodes Scholars, continuing education courses for senior citizens. By assuming the personalities of the First Couples based on research, they hoped to make the names in the history books come alive. By 1996, William had created 32 such programs, and they were being asked to perform their presentations outside of Elderhostel itself. The couple realized that their creations could stand as an education/entertainment entity in many different locations: retirement communities, libraries, organizations.

After a few trial performances in 1994, 1995, and adding costumes, the Wills began their first tour in September 1996; thus, September 2020 started their 25th, silver anniversary, of performing at locations all over the country. During that period, the Wills have performed over 5,000 times in 39 states with 30 of those coming at the nation's Presidential sites, and now have 35 couples in their repertoire; each script is heavily footnoted. Audio clips of two of their shows were included in a BBC program on America's First Ladies and two video clips in C-Span's American Presidents series in early 2000s. Recently, they have made appearances on several cruise ships. The couple moved to Winter Park, FL in 2005 and lately their schedule has been reduced to only 60 - 70 a year, but in the peak years, they were consistently giving about 300 presentations a year: one year logging an amazing 340...and that basically in 9 months on the road! The fact that numerous locations have had the Wills return year after year for over 20 years is a testament of their quality. In 2013, the Wills created a 501 c3 non-profit, Presidents Project, Inc. which has raised and donated $22,000 to various other non-profits helping wounded soldiers.

Covid-19 put a stop to touring in 2020-21, but the couple is eager to begin again in 2021 as soon as possible The most rewarding part of their performing is the wonderful expressions of appreciation and emotion they receive as feedback from the audiences. They give thanks to all who have booked shows, their wonderful audiences and to the power from above that guided them. Besides celebrating their silver, touring anniversary, William and Sue will celebrate their golden, 50th, wedding anniversary this Fall as well. Visit www.presladies.com for further information.

William and Sue Wills as Harry and Bess Truman, one of 35 US First Couples in their repertoire.

A big part of our tour has been locations in SE Florida from West Palm Beach to Boca Raton.

To post a comment, you must register and login.