Man of La Mancha

directed by Russ Smith

This was to production towhich the esteemed founder of the program Leonard Leone always compared every other subsequent production with the observation, "It's no Man of La Mancha." And he was probably right. It was a terrific production. It marked the first (but not the last) time Chris Coucill played Quixote and alas the only time I was to play Sancho Panza. As I was remarkably thin in those bygone years, a fat suit was necessary and director Russ Smith (to whom I am indebted for the photo at the left) had Sancho transform while Cervantes transformed into Quixote. I donned not only a fat suit, but a bald pate with dark hair and a little mustache, creating a totally different look. It worked very well. As I recall, Jim Kisicki had been cast as Sancho--he would have looked the part and been fabulous, but some sort of illness (my wife remembers an eye infection) necessitated the change in casting. I finally got to play again with Chris in a production of Hanlet at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. Hilberry ties are deep indeed...