Michael Disher: Southampton College's 'Mr. Theater'
No point, these days, trying to reach Michael Disher at his house in Amagansett - he goes there strictly to sleep.
Awake, he's either teaching a class at Southampton College, holding a rehearsal on the bare, black stage of its Fine Arts Theatre, or talking on the phone in his tiny office in the basement below.
It can be reached, rather perilously, by an interior iron ladder, or by outdoor cement steps that look as though they lead to the boiler room, which they eventually do.
Photo by Morgan McGivern
But just before, there's a loft-like area where students build sets and, in a cramped corner, a sofa on its last legs and Mr. Disher's dilapidated desk.
A Happy Man
Here he held forth one recent afternoon while a clearly exciting acting class progressed above. Whoops and screams and howls drifted down from time to time, startling a visitor and making Mr. Disher smile.
One of the lucky few who really loves his job, Mr. Disher smiles a lot. An acting teacher, head of the college's theater department, and a self-confessed "happy man," he's currently immersed in the production of "Damn Yankees" his Southampton Players will present in April under his direction.
"I started thinking about 'Damn Yankees' last May," he said with a trace of a Southern accent. "I chose it because I wanted to give the very talented group of guys in my classes an opportunity to shine. So few musicals do that, but this one is set in the '50s and is a real guy show."
All About Baseball
"I like everything to do with baseball - the look of it, the smells of it," he went on. "It just drives me nuts, and tons of people feel this way."
He began designing the uniforms last summer, "and haunted every vintage place I know for '50s stuff."
"But what a lot of preparation! I'm such a detail person I even had the costume people painting the purses to match the gloves the other night - all this energy builds up!"
He politely asked a couple of students working on sets nearby to pipe down so we could talk. Silently, they brushed in nostalgic ballpark billboards urging fans to "Be Happy Go Lucky," "Install Champion Sparkplugs," and "Enjoy Pabst."
Getting Away
Mr. Disher was born 43 years ago in Lexington, N.C., and spent the next 21 years trying to get out of there.
"Central North Carolina was pretty stifling in the '50s. I felt like a displaced person," he said.
He did, however, manage to give his first theatrical performance at age 6, doing the twist with "the girl I loved in first grade."
A painful Christmas pageant appearance as the angel Gabriel - his halo "hurt like hell" - was followed by a starring role in an eighth-grade production of "Hillbilly Wedding," and "the rest is history," as he put it.
Nothing Practical
His mother had been inspired to give him three wonderful, pivotal, wooden marionettes and a puppet stage when he was a child, but no further artistic or financial support would be forthcoming from either parent.
"They were of the opinion that if you wanted a higher education, you paid for it yourself, which to a degree I think is good," said Mr. Disher. He spent two years at the local community college and two more at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, majoring in theater.
"I tried desperately to major in something practical, like business or education, but it didn't work. I'm a theater person and I truly only enjoy doing three things: entertaining people, enlightening people, and opening them up to their abilities."
On The East End
Working as a free-lance director, designer, and choreographer, he got his first East End job in the early '80s as an instructor and technical director at Southampton College under Jon Fraser, then head of the theater department.
"There was nothing here, nothing. Jon built it all up, eventually even developing a beautiful proposal for a B.F.A. in association with Bay Street [Theatre], which, for some reason, never happened."
Mr. Disher subsequently worked for six years as theatrical artist-in-residence at East Hampton High School, also designing sets and costumes for Community Theatre Company productions at Guild Hall.
South With "Cole"
"The high school had a boffo theater department," he said. "We did four shows a year, and it was thrilling to watch talented young people like Andrea Gross emerge and mature."
In 1988 he co-founded Tri*Light Productions, an independent theater company that produced original musicals, and became its president and producing director.
However, when his show "Cole Through the Night," which he wrote himself and which local critics loved, was booked for only two performances by Guild Hall, Mr. Disher was disappointed enough to take his act back to his home state. "Cole" got great reviews there, too.
After a five-year stint with the North Carolina State Arts Foundation, Mr. Disher returned to Southampton two years ago to take over a production of Charles Busch's "Psycho Beach Party" while Mr. Fraser cared for his ailing father.
Maximum Enrollment
When Mr. Fraser moved on to head the theater department at C.W. Post, Mr. Disher "rode into the job on Jon's coattails, and started building on his foundation," he said.
As the college's adjunct associate professor of theater/theater director, he produces, directs, and designs or choreographs three productions a season that involve college students as well as actors and high-school students from the community.
He also teaches courses in acting, theater management, technical theater, and modern theater history.
Enrollment in his classes is currently over the maximum - "not bad for a campus that specializes in marine biology," he smiled.
"Damn Yankees"
Putting on a show like "Damn Yankees" is complex. "The daily traumas and phone calls. . . ." Mr. Disher rolled his eyes. Finding an available script for the available talent, holding auditions for the cast of 35, getting the graphics designed and printed and the advertising out, acquiring the props, mobilizing the carpenters and technical people - it's quite a job.
"And with an all-volunteer staff, yet! No one even gets paid!"
While the college grants Mr. Disher's department a meager $6,000 a year, "Damn Yankees" alone, he said, is budgeted at $25,000. "I have to raise $19,000 to cover it, and I'm biting my nails!"
Person-To-Person Person
Another whoop came from the acting class upstairs, and Mr. Disher smiled again. "We have a wonderful little working community here. The kids have found a home where they know they won't be hurt. They're happy here, and that means a lot to me."
"I don't want us all to be swallowed up by technology," he explained, "and I feel strongly about what theater can do to prevent that. It's one of the few person-to-person mediums we have left. I love its ability to generate waves of human energy, to move people in a vibrant fashion."
"It starts, for me, with my cast members. I try to inspire them to go out there not just to perform but to present a gift of themselves. If done properly, the audience gives it back with beautiful reciprocity. It doesn't happen with every show, but, when it does, I know that's why I do this."
His Baseball Guys
"Any group that embarks on a project with purity of intent will be successful," he added. "I hate selfish theater."
As for "Damn Yankees," his Lola's going to be "dynamite." Monica Mercedes, a community actress last seen wearing chains and a garter belt in Frederick Stroppel's "A Chance Meeting," will be transformed into a redhead "very soon."
"And my 12 baseball team guys will be brilliant. They're getting their bodies in shape, and they know all facial hair goes and head hair gets clipped short. They're going to surprise people."
"As I told them last night, you know, guys, this is so great because what we're proving here is that white boys can dance."
Non-Stop Shows
"I love the whole package of what I do, and I don't give two hoots if I never perform again," Mr. Disher said. "My joy comes from watching them be the best they can be."
If he had his way, the Fine Arts Theatre would never be dark. "I'd love to mount non-stop shows - children's theater, community theater, even bring in professional touring companies."
Perhaps inevitably, he ended with a quote from "Field of Dreams."
Kevin Costner plays the farmer who's crazy enough to want to turn his perfectly good cornfield into a ballpark for bygone players. He keeps hearing voices: "If you build it, they will come."
"I keep hearing that, too," Mr. Disher concluded with one last smile. "If you build it, they will come."