BWW Interviews: Producer/director/actor Darryl Deason and THE FRIDAY FIVE

Inspired by BroadwayWorld.com's Friday Six, welcome to Nashville.BroadwayWorld.com's latest installment of The Friday Five: five questions designed to help you learn more about the talented people you'll find onstage throughout the Volunteer state.

The spotlight today falls upon Darryl Deason-mild-mannered Murfreesboro dentist-by-day; high-flying, widely respected director/producer/actor-by-night-who shares the spotlight today with Katherine Sandoval Taylor, who opens tonight as Guenevere in The Arts Center of Cannon County's production of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot (playing through March 23; curtain's at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with 2 p.m. Sunday matinees) which is, interestingly enough, produced by Darryl Deason himself. Ah! Syncronicity (ya gotta love a good calendar application!).

But Camelot is just the beginning of a busy few months for Deason, who will be designing the sets for ACCC's upcoming production of Legally Blonde (running July 6-21 at the theater's venue in Woodbury) before he turns his attention to Xanadu (running August 10-25), which he will be directing. Obviously, the man's got mad organizational skills.

Now, here's the scoop on Darryl "Mother-Effing" Deason (in homage to Darryl "Mother-Effing" Dixon of The Walking Dead fame) via The Friday Five…
 
What was your first taste of live theater? When I was 11-years-old a friend of my mother worked at Arnold Engineering in Tullahoma. She told my mother about Tullahoma Community Playhouse that performed in an old building at the Tullahoma airport. I walked in and was transfixed by this dilapidated building, it's pieced together curtains, and room heaters scattered in the aisles. I saw Barefoot in the Park, Everybody Loves Opal, and Ten Little Indians all in one season. In all three productions was a Tullahoma South Central Bell employee named Jim Baird. I thought he was wonderful. In the next year, I went to the Barn Dinner Theatre and sitting at one of the tables was Jim Baird. I was starstruck and this 12-year-old boy went over and asked for his autograph. Twenty years later I played John Adams opposite Jim's Ben Franklin. I asked him if he remembered that little boy. He did! Oh the magic of community theatre in the eyes of a little boy.
 
Do you have any sort of quirky pre-show rituals that you can share with the rest of the world? Two quarts of Gatorade and then right before curtain, I go pee!
 
How about a memorable "the show must go on" reminiscence, doctor? There are two. The second home of The Arts Center of Cannon County was in the basement of the old high school gym that flooded every time it rained. I cannot count the number of times we mopped and wet- vacced the stage right before the house opened.  A couple of years ago I directed Blue Sky Boys and one Sunday matinee, one of the three male leads called me at 11 a.m. and said he had hurt his back and could not get off the couch. I went onStage Holding "scientific papers" and could not believe the support emitting from the other actors onstage ready to cover for me at any moment.
 
Do you have any dream roles? Well I wanted to do Merlin and Pellinore in Camelot, but my daughter's wedding took priority. I would love to reprise Arnold in The Boys Next Door. SheriDan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner.
 
Do you have a theatrical crush? Audra McDonald. Four-time Tony Award winner, gorgeous voice, and hot! I've seen her in Ragtime and Master Class, dying to see her Bess!

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