Birthday bravo: Honoring Bruce Meyers' well lived life in the theater

Bruce Kemp Meyers celebrated life and shared his acting talents, despite chronic heart problems. 

Bruce Meyers played Daddy Warbucks in "Annie." The title role was played by Becca Barthelmess and Lana Fox Gribas played Grace. Warbucks and Grace marry and adopt all the orphans. Our Airedale Gandalf played Sandy the dog, also adopted by the new family.

OVATION: A birthday salute for Bruce Kemp Meyers and his lively life in the theater

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS

Photos from CM Archives, scanned and digitized by Bruce Keller

"A LIFE in the Theatre" is a wonderful David Mamet play about two actors -- one young and on the rise, the other in his sunset days upon the stage.

It is also a fitting moniker for the life of Bruce Kemp Meyers, who would have turned 78 on April 1.  We had  fun with his "April Fools Day" anniversary.  We had fun in general. We knew our time might be limited.

Bruce Meyers played Curly in a high school production of "Oklahoma" in his native Ohio.

WHEN BRUCE was called for his Army physical in Cleveland, during the Vietnam War, he was already a leading man. He'd played several leading roles, including Curly in a Shaw High School production of "Oklahoma,"

and was performing in a string of musicals at Kent State University in Ohio. He was surprised but not unhappy to fail the physical. "The doctor listened to my heart, paused, stared at me, put the stethoscope back on my test, listened again and said, 'You have a serious murmur, but it may save your life'."

Christene and Bruce Meyers, in a scene from Showstoppers" at der Schwartzwald  Theater. 

That was in 1965. The malady was diagnosed as aortic valve stenosis: the aortic valve had narrowed, reducing blood flow, a sometimes fatal condition. Doctors advised monitoring it, which he did during graduate school and in Montana where in 1967 he took a teaching post in the English department at then Eastern Montana College, now MSU-Billings.

Bruce Meyers, Karen Jackson, Lysa Fox in "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" at BST.

WE MET in the classroom (I was his writing student), married in 1970 and didn't dwell on the problem until he felt increasing weakness. So early in 1976, doctors John Heizer and Hewes Agnew replaced the valve at then Deaconess Hospital in Billings. A few weeks later, he was cast in the lead of Tommy Allbright, in "Brigadoon" at Billings Studio Theatre. Hewes and his wife Susan Agnew sang in the chorus. All the time, he continued teaching writing at the college, a legacy that would eventually include three generations of grateful students.

For us, the best of times were on the boards -- usually I playing piano and music directing and Bruce in a major or leading role.  During a prolific period beginning in the 1970s into the early 1990s -- from "Brigadoon" and right up to his death while rehearsing "The Apple Tree," -- ours was a wonderful life in the theatre. We logged nearly 50 collaborations at BST, the Fox Theater, MSU-Billings, Gramma's Drammas and Der Schwartzwald Dinner Theater. Our efforts helped save the old Fox Theater, now the Alberta Bair Theater.

BRUCE WOULD, I'm sure, be happy that I continued my creative life -- conducting and playing piano, traveling, teaching writing workshops and seeing dozens of plays a year.

I believe he would like my third husband, Bruce Keller, and get a charge out of his moniker, "Bruce the Second." He and my second late spouse, William Jones, were friends; the four of us -- Bill and his wife Debbie and Bruce and I -- traveled a few times together before we both found ourselves single.

I've written about the strange co-incidence of the names of my three partners:  Bruce Meyers, William Jones, Bruce William Keller, and of the huge role theater plays in my life.

Bruce Meyers, center, with three of the Kit Kat Girls in a 1977 production of "Cabaret" at BST. Above left small photo: Bruce and Christene in "Our Town," a "Save the Fox" fundraiser, 1979, at the Fox, now ABT. 

I THINK fondly of those hectic, fulfilling days.  Often we'd be rehearsing one show, reading scripts for another and performing a third. I'd come home from a full day at The Billings Gazette, where I was film reviewer and arts editor, and Bruce would be upstairs grading papers after teaching at MSU-Billings.  We'd grab something light to eat -- no alcohol until after the show or rehearsal. Then we'd head for the boards.

DURING 17 performances of "Cabaret" at BST in 1977, it was so cold that the lines the emcee utters in "Wilkommen" rang true: "Outside it is winter, but in here, it it so hot! Every night we have to battle with the girls to keep them from taking off all their clothes. Who knows? Tonight we may lose the battle."

Vint Lavinder and Bruce Meyers in "Man of La Mancha" won raves in a held-over production at der Schwartzwald.

BRUCE WAS a trooper.  For him, the old theater adage, "the show must go on" was a solemn oath. He was a professional: learned his lines, supported other actors, was early for rehearsal, never missed a show. Even when he was in recovery from his open-heart surgery, or in pain from hematomas and bruising, he was dependable. His damaged heart was huge.

During rehearsals for "Good," Bruce's mother Dorothy, his biggest fan, was dying of cancer. It was one of Bruce's favorite roles, in a complex play about the conflicted feelings of a brilliant professor in Nazi Germany. Our dear friend Vicky Coffman directed.

For weeks, Bruce flew weekends to his native Cleveland, Ohio, to visit his ailing mother. He returned from his final visit hours before she passed away. That night before the show in Petro Hall at MSU-B, Vicky came into his dressing room and offered to cancel.  Bruce declined, but asked that the performance be dedicated to his mother. Vicky granted the wish, announcing it to the audience.  It was flawless, with a standing ovation. 

LYA FOX, now teaching at Western Illinois University, as head of the BFA musical theater program, is one of many Bruce influenced. "He taught me so much. He had a beautiful, quiet confidence -- a dear, wonderful artist, supportive to everyone he worked with."

At MSU-B, where he taught creative writing and English for 25 years, two annual scholarships each year honor Bruce's memory, helping English majors achieve their degrees. Contributions are welcome to the MSU-B Foundation. They still come in these many years later. I'm listening to "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" now, thinking of Bruce as Curly and wishing him a happy birthday in that great theater in the sky. Break a leg!

 More info: https://msubfoundation.com/programs/scholarships/

https://www.collegexpress.com/scholarships/bruce-meyers-memorial-english-endowed-scholarship/2007501/ 

"Sweeney Todd" at Oregon Cabaret Theatre was a sell-out, before the pandemic, beautifully acted and directed. Below right, the warm and welcoming space in Ashland, Oregon, is a dinner theater cabaret setting. 

UP NEXT: For years, the Oregon Cabaret Theatre has been entertaining

sell-out crowds in a beautifully restored church in Ashland, Oregon. Back in business after a brutal pandemic year, the Oregon Cabaret Theatre is up and running with an exciting season.  Across from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Cabaret is part of our annual trek to Ashland, a worthy complement to the OSF and its three distinctly different theaters. We'll preview the new season, now underway. Meanwhile, remember to explore, learn and live and catch us each week for  a fresh look at the arts, travel, nature, family and more. Please share the links: whereiscookie.com

The Allen Elizabethan Theater at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, Oregon, photographed during a tour.

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