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Dinsmore's passion for acting, singing continues to carry her through life |
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Front Page -
Front Page Story
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Written by Julie Ciaramella
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Monday, 16 February 2009 |
Kathy S. Dinsmore (left) and her husband, Jef Dinsmore, during recent rehearsals for the Punxsutawney Theater Arts Guild's upcoming production of the play "The Perfect Crime." (Photo by Julie Ciaramella/The Punxsutawney Spirit)
PUNXSUTAWNEY — Kathy S. Dinsmore — who is known to many people in Punxsutawney for her work as an actress and singer in the Punxsutawney Theatre Arts Guild — has always loved singing and acting, beginning with her classical vocal training as a junior in high school.
"My mother and grandmother, who got me the lessons, wanted me to be an opera singer, but I didn't have the kind of voice for that," Dinsmore said.
But she did have a voice for musical theater.
Her first role came in ninth grade, when she played Felicity in "A Christmas Carol." She continued to perform through high school and college, and minored in set design at IUP.
Dinsmore grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, in Berks County, and came to this area to attend college at IUP. She graduated in 1980 with a degree in art education.
Upon graduation from college, Dinsmore stayed close to Indiana, moving to Marion Center, taking substitute teaching jobs and then working as adult daycare coordinator for Aging Services.
She said theater and singing were always separate interests, but she had always loved both.
Before she became involved with the Punxsutawney Theatre Arts Guild, Dinsmore said that she had been away from the stage for a long time — about 10 years.
"I really missed it; I missed performing, and in particular missed singing. I was going to go to Indiana because they had a theater group, but a friend of mine encouraged me to go to Punxsy," Dinsmore said.
She called a number that appeared in a newspaper article, and started going to the Theatre Arts Guild meetings and "it took off from there," Dinsmore said. For her first production, she was in the orchestra for "Camelot," and the next year, she was on stage.
Dinsmore said that although she loves to sing and act, it was never something she saw herself doing full-time.
"I never thought that it was what I wanted to do for a living. It's a hard way to make a living, and you have to have the right kind of drive and the right kind of mental frame to do that. Also, I'm not a city person; I don't like cities, and to be an actor and be a success as far as being a career actor, you've got to work out of New York or Los Angeles. I never wanted that kind of lifestyle so I never pursued it as a real career — it was more something that I just enjoyed doing," she said.
Dinsmore has been in the Theatre Arts Guild for 19 years, she said, and has been in 40 to 50 shows, either on stage or directing. She said that actors and directors in the Theatre Arts Guild do not get paid for their work — they do it because they have a love and passion for theatre and bringing the arts to the community.
The shows have a demanding schedule, and Dinsmore is involved in some capacity in all three shows the Guild does every year. Each play is rehearsed for six weeks, Dinsmore said, and a musical rehearses for about 10 weeks. Rehearsals are four nights a week for two to three hours. Then the show performs for two weeks, and in the case of the summer show, for three weeks — two weeks in Punxsy and one week in Cook Forest.
Out of all of the shows Dinsmore has performed or directed for the Guild, she said her favorite remains the musical "The Man of La Mancha," in which she played the role of Aldonza.
"If I had to go back and do another part again, I'd probably do that one," Dinsmore said.
Dinsmore described playing Aldonza as "very demanding vocally and physically" and said the part required a lot of mental preparation.
"It was very different from a lot of the other parts I've played because a lot of ingenues that I played at that time were sweet, young things — like Marie in ‘The Sound of Music' — and Aldonza wasn't like that. She was a tavern wench; she was physically abused and mentally abused, so it was a very different role," Dinsmore said.
Terry A. Fye, president of the Punxsutawney Theatre Arts Guild, who has directed Dinsmore a number of times, said the role of Aldonza took a physical toll on Dinsmore — but she was able to laugh it off.
"There's one scene where Aldonza is attacked," Fye said, "and the rehearsals plus the performances were so intense that for days after the show, if not weeks, you could see the bruises. She had black and blue bruises, but she laughed about it and never complained. She went through a lot of physical unpleasantness to make that role as believable as it was."
Dinsmore added that she is drawn to complex, well-written characters that take some introspection and preparation to portray on stage.
"When I was younger, I would think, ‘Oh, that's a famous part, I want to do that,' but now that I'm older, I look for if it's a really well-written show, if it's a well-developed character or a character that takes a lot of thinking to understand how you're going to portray her. I like shows that really give you something to sink your teeth into or mean something, or say something," Dinsmore said.
Currently the Theatre Arts Guild is in rehearsals for the play "The Perfect Crime" by Warren Manzi, which will run the first two weekends in March. In the play, Dinsmore is in the lead role of psychiatrist Margaret Thorne Brent. She described the character as "devious, nasty and manipulative" and "possibly the mastermind behind a tremendous crime" but said that becoming someone else — even such an unlikeable character — is easy.
"I always find it more enjoyable to play someone who is not like me because l can go out of myself, outside of my range and find a certain amount of joy in being what I'm not," Dinsmore said.
One of the roles that Fye said Dinsmore made memorable was Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady," a show that the Theatre Arts Guild produced in 1998. Fye played opposite Dinsmore, in the role of Colonel Pickering.
"Kathy was impeccable, right down to her mannerisms and accent, and she made the character her own — she didn't model it after Audrey Hepburn," Fye said. "She had that spark when she was on stage."
Dinsmore said an important part of becoming someone else on stage is being able to relate to a character, but find differences with the character as well.
"You have to find something in the character that you can understand yourself. Because if you don't understand it yourself, the audience isn't going to understand it. I think one of the hardest things that some people have a problem with is looking at a character not from your viewpoint but from their viewpoint and their life, and not see it in the context of your own life all the time," Dinsmore said.
She usually works as vocal director for the musicals, and enjoys directing at least once a year, Dinsmore said, "which is fun and gives you another viewpoint of shows that actors don't always have." Her husband, Jef Dinsmore, also directs and acts in the productions.
Her full-time job is creating handwoven clothing. Dinsmore designs the garments, weaves them and tailors them into clothing, using a variety of fabrics but primarily wool, cotton and silk, and doing much of the hand-dying herself. She displays her clothing at about 10 fine crafts shows a year all over Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Ohio.
She also sings in church at First Presbyterian Church and enjoys hiking, camping, reading, painting and traveling, especially to Barnegat Light, N.J., every summer. The thing that gives her the most enjoyment, she said, is making people happy.
"I really enjoy being able to bring enjoyment to other people. That makes me feel good. Working with other people towards a production is really enjoyable and I've made good friends," she said.
Fye said no matter what role Dinsmore is in, directors and actors alike know that they're going to get a 100 percent effort from her.
"Kathy is an amazing, multi-talented person, and acting is only one of her main skills," Fye said. "She's a delight to work with because she has insights into the characters and she's willing to do anything she can to guarantee the success of the show. Whether she has a supporting role or a major role, you can always depend on her to come through with flying colors."
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 February 2009 )
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