Michael Disher: Aiming for the ‘Aha!’ Moment
Michael Disher is quick to acknowledge his good fortune. “Outside of my first job interview in New York in 1977, I’ve maybe interviewed for jobs twice in my life. Otherwise I’ve been in the right place at the right time, and they’ve just come my way.”
The right places have included Southampton College, where he taught drama for more than 15 years, and the Southampton Cultural Center, where he opened Center Stage Theatre, which tomorrow is launching its 10th season as Southampton Village’s only year-round community theater with the classic farce “Boeing Boeing.”
On a recent afternoon in Amagansett Square, Mr. Disher looked surprisingly relaxed for somebody who had been in rehearsal every night for six weeks. “That doesn’t mean my cast rehearses every night,” he said, “because they would clearly mutiny if that were the case. But I’m there every night.” That schedule includes a daily commute to Southampton from Amagansett, where he has lived since 1986.
“I can’t tell you what drew me to ‘Boeing Boeing,’ ” Mr. Disher said. “It was just an idea that came and clicked. It’s a fun premise, it’s totally nonsensical, and it’s the 1960s, a period I enjoy.” The play ran for seven years in London and won two Tony Awards during its 2008 revival in New York City.
Mr. Disher was born and raised in North Carolina. “Early in my life I was artistically driven and knew I wanted to be involved in something theatrical. When I was 9 years old my mother gave me marionettes for Christmas, and I began pulling the strings on puppets. I guess I haven’t stopped since.”
He majored in theater at the University of North Carolina. “The program produced what we call theater generalists. We had a broad spectrum, which meant we could be employed in any area of theater, from directing to acting to set design. I couldn’t have asked for a better foundation.”
Three months after graduation he set out for New York. “It sounds a little ‘42nd Street’ in the telling, but I left North Carolina with a one-way ticket, two bags, a place to stay, a job interview, and $77 in my pocket.” His first job was with a film distributor, whose office happened to be in the Actors Equity building.
“It was a wonderful time to be in Manhattan. I needed to be someplace where there was a pulse similar to mine. I grew up feeling that I was different, but once I moved to New York I realized there wasn’t anything different about me. I had just been in the wrong place.”
The South Fork turned out to be another right place. While visiting East Hampton in the early 1980s, he saw a Community Theater production at Guild Hall. “When they found out I could design sets and costumes, they asked if I would design a production of ‘Ah, Wilderness’ for them.”
Someone from Southampton College saw the show. “They had an opening for an instructor in the theater department, and suddenly I was teaching college at the age of 28.” He eventually became the head of the department and remained at the college until it Long Island University closed the campus.
“In addition to teaching, we were putting on four shows a year, doing original work, and working with the M.F.A. students developing their one-act plays. The program had quite a good reputation. It was hard to say goodbye, it was like losing a child.”
When he was not invited to move with the program to the Stony Brook campus, he met with Kirsten Lonnie, the executive director of the Southampton Cultural Center in 2007. “She said, ‘We don’t have a theater here. Can you do a show?’ We started with a few platforms and some horrible chairs. The first show we did was ‘The Fantasticks,’ and the community responded.”
Mr. Disher reckons he has directed around 200 plays. “When you’ve been doing this for 35 years, it keeps accumulating. If only my 401(k) would do as well. Sometimes you hit home runs, and sometimes you strike out. But I’ve been very blessed to be able to do what I do.”
He admits to high standards. “I stress with the actors that they have to provide an escape for audience members, to take them away from their lives for two hours. It’s an honor to have that obligation. I’m known for being a taskmaster, and I make no apologies for it.”
“First and foremost, I’m a teacher. I expect you to come in with certain tools, and I hope I will show you something you didn’t realize you were capable of. Therewith comes the bonus for the actor. That’s the magic, the ‘Aha!’ moment.”
“Boeing Boeing” is the story of a Parisian architect engaged simultaneously to three attractive flight attendants who are unaware of each other. Turbulence ensues when a friend comes to stay with him, a new and faster Boeing jet throws off his schedule, and all three women land in Paris at the same time. The cast features Dane DuPuis, Shannon DuPuis, Samantha Honig, John Leonard, Catherine Mahoney, and Josephine Wallace.Wallace.
Ms. DuPuis was in his first production of “A Chorus Line” in 2002, and Ms. Wallace worked with him at Southampton College in 2003. “It’s endearing to watch them grow up. It’s not so endearing to watch me grow old, but what are you going to do?”
The 2017-18 season will also include the 1940s radio version of “A Christmas Carol,” “Crimes of the Heart,” to be directed by Joan Bennett Lyons in January, and “Beauty and the Beast,” which Mr. Disher will direct.
Performances of “Boeing Boeing” will take place Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8, and Sunday afternoons at 2:30, through Nov. 5. Tickets are $25, $15 for students under 21. Dinner-theater packages can be purchased online at scc-arts.org.