Acme Theatre Co. was the crazy notion of English teacher Dave Burmester, who decided he could get kids excited enough about theatre that they would even be willing to give up part of their summers to do productions of Shakespeare, Thornton Wilder, and other playwrights not normally performed by the high school drama department. He was right. Paul and Jeri, while not in Acme in the first year of its existence, joined very early on. Paul played several roles, among which were: the Coachman in On the Razzle (when he had to give an onstage kiss to Ned's then-girlfriend [now wife], Marta); half of a gay couple in Museum (Kag was the other half); and the Stage Manager in Our Town. In his first Acme Show (Thornton Wilder's The Long Christmas Dinner), Paul wore a green suit. The suit became such a trademark that he wore it at some point in every Acme show that he did.
The green suit makes its first appearance in The Long Christmas Dinner (with Jeri) |
Paul trips the light fantastic in an outdoor production of Ring Around the Moon |