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On Acting on Stage
"This is hard to put in to words because it is so unbelievable that our government spends less on the arts than
any civilized country in the world. A missile system is obsolete in a few years and great paintings and plays last
forever. I've heard that every theater group in the country could be funded for ten years for what one MX missile
costs. I'd like to see people get back in touch with the theater. There’s nothing wrong with television. For a 30-
year old medium, it’s remarkable—when art was 30 years old, it was still on the walls of caves. But live
performing creates an interaction between actor and the audience that touches deep spiritual nerves. This
doesn't happen on TV." (1985)
Q: What age did your interest in theatre begin?
A: Probably really around the age of 14 when Mother would drag me down to work on sets for the little theatre. I
just decided it would be easier to be onstage rather than backstage because the director couldn't make me work
as hard as my mother made me work. (1989)
"The theater is my first love, and it touches me in a place that working in front of a camera never quite did."
(1991)
"It helps center me. If I go a long time without a show, I'm not much fun to be around,'' Lane reflected. "I need
catharsis.'' (1997)
"My first play was a one act. I had a three-page monologue playing a Confederate ghost,'' Lane remembered. "I
was hugely well received. I had an identity in a school that worshiped football players.'' (1997)
Davies looks at his current television work, which includes guest appearances on shows including "Just Shoot
Me" and "Jesse," as a way to support his theater habit.
"One feeds my soul and the other feeds my family," Davies said. (2002)
"My involvement with the Dalton Little Theater growing up was a major factor in my choice of careers, says
Davies, who's entire family was involved with community theater. "Acting gave me an identity". (2005)
"I tend to think of myself as a theater actor who does television."
(2005)
On Shakespeare
Q. What made you become interested in Shakespeare?
A. I don't know. I just always knew it was something I would do. I saw a film in English class that showed the
rapier and dagger fight between Hamlet and Laertes when I was 17 years old and I thought 'well that looks like
fun to do'. I'd always liked toy swords and that sort of thing, so I decided to do it for a living. (1989)
"There's so much to love about Shakespeare," said Davies, whose booming voice makes it sound like he is
reciting Shakespeare even when he is just leaving a message on an answering machine. "He showed us how
English should sound. He had an amazing eye for human behavior, coupled with an eye for the minutiae of
nature and folklore and just day-to-day life." (2002)
"First I fell in love with the sword fighting," Davies says of Zeffirelli's 1968 classic version of Romeo and Juliet.
"Then I fell in love with his characters and the language. Now it's his mind that fascinates me. He is not so much
a playwright as a metaphysical entity, one who completely understood the mind of man." (2006)
Once you've hooked on to Shakespeare's work, it's difficult to find any other author that so completely captures
the human spirit in all of it's different forms and expresses it as articulately - and as lyrically - as [he] does."
(2007)
On Teaching Shakespeare to School Aged Children
"We want to teach the children to use their imagination and focus on language - not special effects,'' said Davies.
He said stage props are minimal and arbitrary to encourage kids to paint scenes of their own while they listen to
the words and watch the interaction of actors on the stage.
For instance, a ladder is used to indicate that Romeo stands beneath Juliet's balcony in a scene from "Romeo
and Juliet.''
"Theater is all about identifying with characters and using the imagination. The sooner you expose a child to the
arts and especially to theater, the deeper his appreciation will be,'' Davies said. (1996)
"It's very gratifying to have kids actually cheering for Shakespeare, given the competition out there and the
attention span of the average middle to high schooler," said Lane Davies, founder and artistic director for the
company.
"I think we caught them off guard in spite of limited budgets and 400-year old language, though no less arcane
than the average rap song," he said. The students were viscerally stimulated by the close presence of very good
actors who revel in the richness and power of Shakespeare's plays. (2006)
On Mentoring College Acting Student
It's very refreshing to work with kids of this age. They hurl themselves into the work without a lot of the angst of
professional actors." 2005
"It's refreshing to work with young actors, "says Davies. "Even after 35 years experience, I feel I get more from
them than they do from me." (2006)
On Playing Hamlet
"I guess I'm every bit as terrified as I should be, given the role I've taken on."
He added that his Hamlet "may be a little more ambitious (than other characterizations). I think the usurpation of
the crown really eats at him-almost as much as the other things eating at him. As long as Hamlet's alive, he's a
threat to Claudius' crown. Both men are aware of that." (1986)
On Playing Petruchi
Q. Have you ever played Petruchio?
Davies: Years ago in "Kiss Me Kate." But I've never done Petruchio in the straight version. [Joking] Lots of gay
versions of it. But not the straight version.
McFarland [Kate]: I was worried about my size because he's very thin.
Davies: But I'm wiry. We had a much larger Kate in "Kiss Me Kate." One night we rehearsed until four in the
morning, and at the point when she was supposed to be launched onto my shoulders, she squashed me like a
bug. I just didn't have the strength to pick her up one more time. We both crashed to the floor. She had a huge
dress on, and we looked like "Bambi Meets Godzilla." All you saw were my hands and feet sticking out from
under her.
McFarland: I was very encouraged when he told me that story. (1986)
On Playing Inside a Tent
"There's just something magical about a tent that you can't get with an indoor production," said Lane Davies, the
troupe's artistic director and a professional actor. "I think a tent lends an event sort of quality to the production."
(1990)
On Playing Davy Crockett
"It's not every day you get to perform for Crockett's granddaughters" Davies said in explaining why he
volunteered to participate.
When Cotton 66 first spotted Davies 47 at the reunion she startled him with a cheery "Hi Grandpa!" (1998)
On Doing 'Driving Miss Daisy'
"It is sort of an ironic situation," said Lane Davies, the play's director. "We're doing 'Driving Miss Daisy' at the old
courthouse while all this is going on at the new one."
"We lost a couple of rehearsal days because of the curfew in L.A.," Davies said. African-American actor Beau
Billingslea plays Hoge, the chauffeur, and lives in Van Nuys.
"We canceled the rehearsals because I didn't want him to run into any problems over the hill," Davies said.
The company also received two crank calls threatening to burn the theater, but didn't even bother to report them
to the police, he said.
"We weren't really worried, especially being right next to the police station," he said. "I doubt that the people
who made the call had ever read the play or even seen the movie. I just can't understand that kind of mindless
hatred." (1992)
On Establishing Santa Susana Repertory Company in Simi Valley
"There has been such an influx of professional actors who are using this as a bedroom community," said Lane
Davies, the company's artistic director, who plays Mason Capwell on NBC's soap opera 'Santa Barbara.' "Most of
us wanted a place to work in live theater that was close to home. It's something that we can schedule around our
regular work-day schedule." (1988)
"I formed the Santa Susana Repertory when I moved to Simi Valley and wanted to work closer to home," says
Georgia-born and classically trained Davies, who had been moonlighting with companies including the Globe
Playhouse in Hollywood and the Old Globe Theater in San Diego.
"I like to direct, and I like to create an entity that will employ actors and entertain people for years down the
road." (1992)
On Fund Raising
"Fund raising during a recession is sort of like trying to ice skate in a muddy field," Lane Davies, Santa Susana
Repertory's artistic director, said in a written statement. "It's not totally impossible but it sure isn't much fun."
(1992)
On Moving Santa Susana from Simi Valley to Thousand Oaks
"We outgrew the old courthouse in Simi Valley and wanted to move to the Thousand Oaks corridor because it is
more viable geographically and demographically," said Lane Davies, artist director for the repertory company.
"In Thousand Oaks, the company can still serve the Simi Valley audience and foster growth in other areas," he
said. (1992)
"We feel that we needed more seats than the 95-seat Simi Valley Cultural Center," explained the Santa Susana
group's artistic director, Lane Davies, "and it was too expensive for us to rent. We sold out 10 out of 12
'Christmas Carol' performances in Simi Valley last year, and we've already sold out two matinees at the (160-
seat) Community Park facility to groups." (1992)
On Establishing a Partnership Between the Gold Coast Performing
Arts Association and Santa Susana Repertory Company
Lane Davies, artistic director for the repertory group and vice president of Gold Coast, said the nonprofit
production company loaned Santa Susana enough money to cover such items as royalty fees, rehearsal costs
and costumes when it staged the musical "Man of La Mancha" at the Forum Theatre earlier this year. Santa
Susana Repertory is the resident company for the 400-seat theater in the Civic Arts Plaza.
"This greatly broadens our fund-raising ability and improves our credibility," Davies said. "It frees up our
production staff. We can concentrate all of our efforts on the production itself. We were already wearing too
many hats."
Davies, Cabrillo Music Theatre head Ray Mastrovita and Steve Wiley, head of the Young Artists Ensemble, are on
the Gold Coast board of trustees. Each organization also maintains an independent board. (1994)
On Moving Santa Susana Repertory Company to the New Thousand
Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
The Santa Susana Repertory Company, Ventura County's only professional group, says that its move to the
Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza-beginning with last year's "Man of La Mancha"-has proven quite successful.
"We wanted to sell 300 subscriptions last year," artistic director Lane Davies said, "and sold 1,500. And we
expect to double that, next year." (1995)
The group, which had been performing in various locations in Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, hasn't found the
move to the center's 400-seat Forum Theatre-enormous by community theater standards-particularly
intimidating. "It's such a spectacular location," Davies says, "that people are coming longer distances to see us
than they would have for our earlier spaces." (1995)
''For me, it's a love of the theater. It's certainly not the money - most of us don't get paid," said Lane Davies,
artistic director and the force behind the company. "There are 200 (groups) in L.A. that would have killed for the
opportunity to be the resident company. But the amount of work involved in getting us there was too daunting
for most people." (1995)
Davies admits that it's gratifying to see his maneuvering pay off with a plush home for Santa Susana, but he's not
finished dreaming about where the company can go. (1995)
"I started meeting the right people, got on certain committees,'' Lane explained. "The next thing I knew we were
doing a series of plays at the Civic Arts Plaza.'' (1997)
On Dissolving of the Partnership Between SSRC and Gold Coast
"Larry underestimates the caliber of the audience," Davies said. "There is too much light entertainment out here,
and not enough serious theater." (1998)
"I wanted to do 'The Grapes of Wrath.' They ended up doing a revival of 'Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!' " Davies
said, giving an example of the broad chasm between them. "If I'm going to spend my free time doing plays, I
want to do plays of substance." (2002)
"This is hard to put in to words because it is so unbelievable that our government spends less on the arts than
any civilized country in the world. A missile system is obsolete in a few years and great paintings and plays last
forever. I've heard that every theater group in the country could be funded for ten years for what one MX missile
costs. I'd like to see people get back in touch with the theater. There’s nothing wrong with television. For a 30-
year old medium, it’s remarkable—when art was 30 years old, it was still on the walls of caves. But live
performing creates an interaction between actor and the audience that touches deep spiritual nerves. This
doesn't happen on TV." (1985)
Q: What age did your interest in theatre begin?
A: Probably really around the age of 14 when Mother would drag me down to work on sets for the little theatre. I
just decided it would be easier to be onstage rather than backstage because the director couldn't make me work
as hard as my mother made me work. (1989)
"The theater is my first love, and it touches me in a place that working in front of a camera never quite did."
(1991)
"It helps center me. If I go a long time without a show, I'm not much fun to be around,'' Lane reflected. "I need
catharsis.'' (1997)
"My first play was a one act. I had a three-page monologue playing a Confederate ghost,'' Lane remembered. "I
was hugely well received. I had an identity in a school that worshiped football players.'' (1997)
Davies looks at his current television work, which includes guest appearances on shows including "Just Shoot
Me" and "Jesse," as a way to support his theater habit.
"One feeds my soul and the other feeds my family," Davies said. (2002)
"My involvement with the Dalton Little Theater growing up was a major factor in my choice of careers, says
Davies, who's entire family was involved with community theater. "Acting gave me an identity". (2005)
"I tend to think of myself as a theater actor who does television."
(2005)
On Shakespeare
Q. What made you become interested in Shakespeare?
A. I don't know. I just always knew it was something I would do. I saw a film in English class that showed the
rapier and dagger fight between Hamlet and Laertes when I was 17 years old and I thought 'well that looks like
fun to do'. I'd always liked toy swords and that sort of thing, so I decided to do it for a living. (1989)
"There's so much to love about Shakespeare," said Davies, whose booming voice makes it sound like he is
reciting Shakespeare even when he is just leaving a message on an answering machine. "He showed us how
English should sound. He had an amazing eye for human behavior, coupled with an eye for the minutiae of
nature and folklore and just day-to-day life." (2002)
"First I fell in love with the sword fighting," Davies says of Zeffirelli's 1968 classic version of Romeo and Juliet.
"Then I fell in love with his characters and the language. Now it's his mind that fascinates me. He is not so much
a playwright as a metaphysical entity, one who completely understood the mind of man." (2006)
Once you've hooked on to Shakespeare's work, it's difficult to find any other author that so completely captures
the human spirit in all of it's different forms and expresses it as articulately - and as lyrically - as [he] does."
(2007)
On Teaching Shakespeare to School Aged Children
"We want to teach the children to use their imagination and focus on language - not special effects,'' said Davies.
He said stage props are minimal and arbitrary to encourage kids to paint scenes of their own while they listen to
the words and watch the interaction of actors on the stage.
For instance, a ladder is used to indicate that Romeo stands beneath Juliet's balcony in a scene from "Romeo
and Juliet.''
"Theater is all about identifying with characters and using the imagination. The sooner you expose a child to the
arts and especially to theater, the deeper his appreciation will be,'' Davies said. (1996)
"It's very gratifying to have kids actually cheering for Shakespeare, given the competition out there and the
attention span of the average middle to high schooler," said Lane Davies, founder and artistic director for the
company.
"I think we caught them off guard in spite of limited budgets and 400-year old language, though no less arcane
than the average rap song," he said. The students were viscerally stimulated by the close presence of very good
actors who revel in the richness and power of Shakespeare's plays. (2006)
On Mentoring College Acting Student
It's very refreshing to work with kids of this age. They hurl themselves into the work without a lot of the angst of
professional actors." 2005
"It's refreshing to work with young actors, "says Davies. "Even after 35 years experience, I feel I get more from
them than they do from me." (2006)
On Playing Hamlet
"I guess I'm every bit as terrified as I should be, given the role I've taken on."
He added that his Hamlet "may be a little more ambitious (than other characterizations). I think the usurpation of
the crown really eats at him-almost as much as the other things eating at him. As long as Hamlet's alive, he's a
threat to Claudius' crown. Both men are aware of that." (1986)
On Playing Petruchi
Q. Have you ever played Petruchio?
Davies: Years ago in "Kiss Me Kate." But I've never done Petruchio in the straight version. [Joking] Lots of gay
versions of it. But not the straight version.
McFarland [Kate]: I was worried about my size because he's very thin.
Davies: But I'm wiry. We had a much larger Kate in "Kiss Me Kate." One night we rehearsed until four in the
morning, and at the point when she was supposed to be launched onto my shoulders, she squashed me like a
bug. I just didn't have the strength to pick her up one more time. We both crashed to the floor. She had a huge
dress on, and we looked like "Bambi Meets Godzilla." All you saw were my hands and feet sticking out from
under her.
McFarland: I was very encouraged when he told me that story. (1986)
On Playing Inside a Tent
"There's just something magical about a tent that you can't get with an indoor production," said Lane Davies, the
troupe's artistic director and a professional actor. "I think a tent lends an event sort of quality to the production."
(1990)
On Playing Davy Crockett
"It's not every day you get to perform for Crockett's granddaughters" Davies said in explaining why he
volunteered to participate.
When Cotton 66 first spotted Davies 47 at the reunion she startled him with a cheery "Hi Grandpa!" (1998)
On Doing 'Driving Miss Daisy'
"It is sort of an ironic situation," said Lane Davies, the play's director. "We're doing 'Driving Miss Daisy' at the old
courthouse while all this is going on at the new one."
"We lost a couple of rehearsal days because of the curfew in L.A.," Davies said. African-American actor Beau
Billingslea plays Hoge, the chauffeur, and lives in Van Nuys.
"We canceled the rehearsals because I didn't want him to run into any problems over the hill," Davies said.
The company also received two crank calls threatening to burn the theater, but didn't even bother to report them
to the police, he said.
"We weren't really worried, especially being right next to the police station," he said. "I doubt that the people
who made the call had ever read the play or even seen the movie. I just can't understand that kind of mindless
hatred." (1992)
On Establishing Santa Susana Repertory Company in Simi Valley
"There has been such an influx of professional actors who are using this as a bedroom community," said Lane
Davies, the company's artistic director, who plays Mason Capwell on NBC's soap opera 'Santa Barbara.' "Most of
us wanted a place to work in live theater that was close to home. It's something that we can schedule around our
regular work-day schedule." (1988)
"I formed the Santa Susana Repertory when I moved to Simi Valley and wanted to work closer to home," says
Georgia-born and classically trained Davies, who had been moonlighting with companies including the Globe
Playhouse in Hollywood and the Old Globe Theater in San Diego.
"I like to direct, and I like to create an entity that will employ actors and entertain people for years down the
road." (1992)
On Fund Raising
"Fund raising during a recession is sort of like trying to ice skate in a muddy field," Lane Davies, Santa Susana
Repertory's artistic director, said in a written statement. "It's not totally impossible but it sure isn't much fun."
(1992)
On Moving Santa Susana from Simi Valley to Thousand Oaks
"We outgrew the old courthouse in Simi Valley and wanted to move to the Thousand Oaks corridor because it is
more viable geographically and demographically," said Lane Davies, artist director for the repertory company.
"In Thousand Oaks, the company can still serve the Simi Valley audience and foster growth in other areas," he
said. (1992)
"We feel that we needed more seats than the 95-seat Simi Valley Cultural Center," explained the Santa Susana
group's artistic director, Lane Davies, "and it was too expensive for us to rent. We sold out 10 out of 12
'Christmas Carol' performances in Simi Valley last year, and we've already sold out two matinees at the (160-
seat) Community Park facility to groups." (1992)
On Establishing a Partnership Between the Gold Coast Performing
Arts Association and Santa Susana Repertory Company
Lane Davies, artistic director for the repertory group and vice president of Gold Coast, said the nonprofit
production company loaned Santa Susana enough money to cover such items as royalty fees, rehearsal costs
and costumes when it staged the musical "Man of La Mancha" at the Forum Theatre earlier this year. Santa
Susana Repertory is the resident company for the 400-seat theater in the Civic Arts Plaza.
"This greatly broadens our fund-raising ability and improves our credibility," Davies said. "It frees up our
production staff. We can concentrate all of our efforts on the production itself. We were already wearing too
many hats."
Davies, Cabrillo Music Theatre head Ray Mastrovita and Steve Wiley, head of the Young Artists Ensemble, are on
the Gold Coast board of trustees. Each organization also maintains an independent board. (1994)
On Moving Santa Susana Repertory Company to the New Thousand
Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
The Santa Susana Repertory Company, Ventura County's only professional group, says that its move to the
Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza-beginning with last year's "Man of La Mancha"-has proven quite successful.
"We wanted to sell 300 subscriptions last year," artistic director Lane Davies said, "and sold 1,500. And we
expect to double that, next year." (1995)
The group, which had been performing in various locations in Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, hasn't found the
move to the center's 400-seat Forum Theatre-enormous by community theater standards-particularly
intimidating. "It's such a spectacular location," Davies says, "that people are coming longer distances to see us
than they would have for our earlier spaces." (1995)
''For me, it's a love of the theater. It's certainly not the money - most of us don't get paid," said Lane Davies,
artistic director and the force behind the company. "There are 200 (groups) in L.A. that would have killed for the
opportunity to be the resident company. But the amount of work involved in getting us there was too daunting
for most people." (1995)
Davies admits that it's gratifying to see his maneuvering pay off with a plush home for Santa Susana, but he's not
finished dreaming about where the company can go. (1995)
"I started meeting the right people, got on certain committees,'' Lane explained. "The next thing I knew we were
doing a series of plays at the Civic Arts Plaza.'' (1997)
On Dissolving of the Partnership Between SSRC and Gold Coast
"Larry underestimates the caliber of the audience," Davies said. "There is too much light entertainment out here,
and not enough serious theater." (1998)
"I wanted to do 'The Grapes of Wrath.' They ended up doing a revival of 'Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!' " Davies
said, giving an example of the broad chasm between them. "If I'm going to spend my free time doing plays, I
want to do plays of substance." (2002)
Theater Bites
A collection of comments made by Lane concerning theater
A collection of comments made by Lane concerning theater