William MacDuff

(Mac)
(Bill Setchfield)

I was in the following productions: "The Fantasticks" (Henry), "The Roar of the Greasepaint and the Smell of the Crowd" (Sir), "The Music Man" (Harold Hill), "Funny Girl" (Flo Ziegfeld), and numerous musical revues where my dancing skills earned me a permanent place in the back row.

After my first try at college (Florida State, 1972-1974), I returned to South Florida and worked in the box office at the Parker Playhouse. After a couple of years, I became Zev Bufman's production coordinator at Parker and the Miami Beach Theater of Performing Arts. During this period, I continued my association with Hall/Hill performing arts programs by directing "Dames at Sea" (the first production, at Nova) and appearing again in "The Roar of the Greasepaint..." (the second production, at Parker Playhouse).

By 1977, I knew I didn't want to pursue a career in theater management and I moved to New York City. In New York, I worked as a director in small off-off-Broadway theaters and received a B.A. degree in Theater from Columbia University in 1982. My favorite productions were those that involved other graduates of Hall/Hill programs: "The Legend," an Edith Piaf-inspired musical starring Paige O'Hara that never quite made it to off-Broadway; and my adaptation of John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera" (new music by Gary Green), featuring Dara Norman and Gary Mendelson on stage and Allen Hill in the orchestra, with choreography by Michael Scott Gregory.

By the mid-1980s, I was working regularly on new plays, but not on plays I particularly liked, so I began to write my own. I moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and have been writing plays and musicals ever since. Local productions include "The Family Hour," "Humane Treatment," "White Trash in Love" (music by David Coleman), and "Out of the Ordinary." The latter won awards from the Audrey Skirball-Kenis Foundation, and from the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation for dramatic work dealing with a period of gay history (in this case, an "outing" scandal involving members of Kaiser Wilhelm's entourage in 1907).

Productions scheduled for 1999 include a revival of "Something Old, Something New" (a musical dramatization of a lesbian wedding, music by David Coleman), and "Rosarium" (a drama for chorus about manifestations of the Virgin Mary, music by Roger Bourland, to be premiered by the Angeles Singers at L.A.'s Royce Hall on June 5).

I also write non-dramatic choral works with composer Roger Bourland; our Christmas piece, "Fa La La (Blah, Blah, Blah)," has been published by Yelton Rhodes Music and will be performed this holiday season by men's choruses in Maine, Louisiana, Texas and California.

I received an M.F.A. in playwriting from UCLA in 1992, and have completed all work for my doctorate except the final version of my dissertation on the political mythology of the American musical. I work regularly as a dramaturg in various theaters in the United States and Australia, and have published articles on Japanese medieval drama and on renowned gay theatrical artists of the twentieth century, including Langston Hughes and Gertrude Stein.

Since 1995, I have been teaching theater history and play analysis at UCLA; in the Spring semester of 1999, I will also teach a class at Pepperdine College. In my personal life I am greatly blessed. My partner, Neal Peterson ("Pete"), and I have been together since 1977.

With Pete's ex-wife, Carol, and her second husband, Paul Batchelder, we have two extraordinary children and a son-in-law, none of whom is really a "child" any more. My stepson, Mark Peterson, is a graphic designer for BAM magazine here in L.A. and a rock musician: his group, Forest for the Trees, had an album on the charts and a video ("Dream") on MTV in 1997. My stepdaughter, Kathryn Reitman, teaches "special needs" children in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. She lives in Chelmsford with her husband, Leon, an engineer and championship-winning drag racer.

Contact: wmacduff@dc.rr.com

Jay Marmo

I was trying to help my friend David with some ill-conceived set he was building and ended up hanging around the Fantasticks, the group's first production in 1970. After destroying all of my family's Christmas lights to make the gameboard set for the Roar of the Greasepaint, I became a full fledged member of the tech crew.
Eventually I took over the tech crew, designing and building most of the sets for our first major musicals. While I enjoyed the thrill of all-night construction parties in the cafeteria and seeing how much we could overload Mrs. Hall's station wagon on trips to Causeway Lumber, I yearned to be in the spotlight. So I did Elvis impersonations in the variety shows, Mayor Shin in The Music Man and Nicky Arnstein in Funny Girl (when their first choice didn't cut it in rehearsal).

Thanks to my limited talents, I avoided further theater work and went off to University of Florida to prepare for a real job. I graduated in 1976 with a B.S. in Engineering Science and moved to Virginia to seek my fortune and avoid prosecution. I moved to Southern California a few years later and have been there ever since. I have managed a variety of aerospace projects over the last 20 years and am currently trying to shove a big laser into an airplane.

My daughter Christina is the true performer in the family and is a member of the San Pedro City Ballet Company. I have continued my stagecraft tradition with her, building sets for school shows and making her fly as Peter Pan.

I have dear friends and fond memories from the Performing Arts class at Nova. I have enjoyed meeting and performing with the extremely talented group that Joyce and Allen created after our humble beginings. The lessons I learned planning and executing shows at Nova have served me well in the real world.

Contact: jdmarmot@earthlink.net

Robert McCarthy

We were roommates on the east side and had a blast with Ayn Lauren Vitunic, who lived in the same building. I worked as an actor doing commercials and as a waiter at Caroline’s Comedy Club for 3 years. Then one day Ayn (Vitunic) needed help at the talent agency where she worked. And I never left the business of representing actors.

I was an agent at the J. Michael Bloom Agency and then Abrams Artists until 1995. Then I moved to Los Angeles and became a personal manager. Which is what I still do today!

I live in beautiful, sunny Santa Monica, CA with my other half David and our puppy Stella. Life is good and I will always have nothing but wonderful memories of our time together in Fort Lauderdale, June 1998! Love to you all. -Robert

Contact: rjmccarthy@mediaone.net

Michael McDyer

I moved back to Fort Lauderdale, continued to study voice privately and started to dance at the Atlantic Foundation. I also joined a group of painters who would meet and critique each others work a few times a week. I spent the next few years studying and working in the South Florida area. I spent the summers performing on Norwegian Cruise Line and in the winter doing extra work with the touring Metropolitan Opera in Miami Beach, both as part of the Atlantic Foundation and on my own.

In the fall of 1980, better prepared (I now looked 17) I moved to New York for good. I worked at Carnegie Hall and Macy's to make ends meet. I was the third to move into the "Friends" building tucked behind the Palace Theatre near Times Square. I studied dance, voice and worked more on my art, putting myself through art school. Within a year I landed a position as an artist at a advertising agency. I spent two years there, letting go of the theatrical dreams and putting my energy into an art career. I then moved into a position with American Express and Lehman Brothers. I spent the next 10 years there and ended up as Art Director with a corporate title of Assistant Vice President in Equity Research/Financial Services. This position lasted through financial boom of the late 80's until 1993.

From there I took a position at Tishman Construction and Realty Corporation also located at 666 5th Ave. in Manhattan. At that time Tishman was starting a marketing department and I was hired as Art Director. Tishman is the third largest building and realty company in the world . We are currently working all over the U.S., South America and Europe. I have spent the last four years working with an excellent staff, on everything from multi-media presentations for government jobs, directing photo shoots to designing building facades for the renovation of the New 42nd Street. My designs are being used in the current renovation going on in the Time Square area. I am also part of the creative force that is building the first green building in the world, located at 4 Times Square, located to the east of One Times Square, where the ball drops every New Years.

On the fine arts side, I have had a few group exhibitions and one one-man exhibitions of my art work in NY. I am still painting and drawing, and have now added photography to my creative outlet. I am currently working on a new body of work that I hope to exhibit in the spring of '99.

When not making art, or the world a more beautiful place to look at, I am hanging with my partner of 16 years, Richard Byrnes. We live about one hour outside of New York on the south shore of Long Island, in the midst of vineyards and beaches. Currently we are in the process of renovating a 100 year old Victorian house and garden.


Contact: michaelmcdyer@aol.com

Gary Mendelson
(Allard-Mendelson)

Gary in CATS

The year was 1976, and I knew then that my destiny was right there in front of me on that stage. I went home that afternoon and told my parents that I wanted to go to The Performing Arts School at Dillard. I remember going to the old auditorium at Dillard and auditioning for Joyce and Allen. They asked us to prepare a monologue and a song, I sang You’re My Best Girl from Mame and did not have the music. I was pleasantly surprised that Allen was not only able to play my song, but he played it in my key. The key of puberty!
I was sitting in my 8th grade Science class at Perry Junior High, when I received a note from the Principles Office, (attached) saying that I had been accepted into the Performing Arts program at Dillard High School. I’ve been on Cloud Nine ever since.

The first two years in PA, I was thrilled to receive gym credits for the rigorous dance training and was excused from any athletic classes or activities at Nova. For that, being in PA was worth it! Joyce and Allen really gave me all the tools I needed to prepare myself for the road that lay ahead. They gave me a strong foundation of which to draw from. My first show I was in was One for Performing Arts, which I was so excited, for I knew how to do a Time Step and knew the whole opening dance from A Chorus Line. On to Applause, the most controversial show I have ever been involved in. It was also my most memorable. I got to dance with Paige O’Hara on the tables during the show-stopping number But Alive. I remember after one of the rehearsals I went home and told my mom that “I have to have a yellow jumpsuit made for me to wear for this number. I get to dance with Paige on the tables center stage.” Thank you Mom for that jumpsuit, may it rest in peace.(What was I thinking?)

Here is a list of the other shows that I was involved in; Hard Knock Life, Dames At Sea, The Nutcracker, This Is The Biz, George M!, The Energy Source. And The Music Man.

I followed the school to The Atlantic Foundation for the Performing Arts and continued my academic education through The American School in Chicago. What a treat this was, I was tutored for two hours in the morning with my academics then had the rest of the day to spend learning and doing all the things that I loved. Performing. Joyce and Allen not only taught us how to sing, act and dance but they gave us the power to believe in the knowledge and ourselves to be prepared to expect the unexpected. From finding an apartment to finding a survival job their teaching skills were priceless.

In the summer of 1980 I moved up to New York City. Michael Scott Gregory, Michael McDyer, Allen Hill and I took an apartment on 47th Street right behind the Palace Theatre, in the heart of Times Square. My first job was selling dancewear and shoes at Capezio’s, as well as a coat check/Juice Boy at the Anta Theatre. I was taking dance classes from two of my idols, Ann Reinking and Peter Genarro at the American Dance Machine, (they recreated original choreography from old Broadway shows). After a year of this I landed my first show, Neil Simon’s Little Me, on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neil Theatre. I was so excited for my 3 goals were being met. I was in a Broadway show, therefore I was now an Equity member and I was working with Bob Fosse, who had come in at the last second to help Peter Genarro. A star studded event and after 6 months the show closed.

There I was with all my goals met and dumbfounded as to what was next. Remembering the things Allen and Joyce had taught me I proceeded to look for alternative work while waiting for the next performing job. I had many in between jobs, yet one in particular would eventually assist in bringing me to where I am currently.

I worked in a candle store in between my many theatrical jobs, and found that there was a major need for mail order candles and candle making supplies made available to the consumer. With the blessing of the storeowner, I started a home-based mail-order business called Candles By Mail, which took off quickly and immediately couldn’t move around my apartment as the wax began to consume the space around me. I then started the rounds of doing street fairs and flea markets in New York. Let me tell you, the training I received in Pas de duex class came in handy, having to lug heavy wax to and from the street fairs and my apartment. A friend of mine owned a gourmet food shop and couldn’t bare the thought of me selling wax out in the cold of winter. She invited me in to sell my candles in her shop for 3 months, in exchange for decorating her store…not a bad deal, eh?

3 months turned into 6 lucrative holiday months and afforded me the opportunity to open my very own storefront on the Upper West Side of Manhattan called Candleshtick. After the first 6 months I had a hit on my hands and was once again shining bright on Broadway. 4 years later I decided to expand the business with my business partner and opened another Candleshtick store down in Chelsea.

In 1995, I met my best friend and soul mate, Kevin Allard (now the Director of Information Technology for The Brooklyn Public Library). Together, after 1 year of dating, we decided to have a wedding ceremony down in Boca Raton, Florida with over 100 guests. Honeymooned in Paris, Amsterdam and Vienna while visiting friends and people who we had both worked with through the years. Upon our return, we found out that we were both in want of having children in our lives and decided to explore the many possibilities in front of us as a gay couple. Becoming Foster Parents at first seemed to be the best route in bringing a child into a home with two Dads. So, with the assistance of ABC Variety House (funded through Kathie and Frank Gifford), we brought home our 4 year old son, Richard just 4 months after our initial inquiries of foster care. Richard came to us as a pre-adoptive foster child. We filed the adoption papers 6 months later, legally changed our last name to Allard-Mendelson, got a call from our lawyer 3 months and 12 days later that our Adoption Day would be tomorrow, December 12th, 1997. We were informed by the AFCLU that we were the first gay, lesbian or domestic partnership to have adopted jointly in New York State. Pretty neat we think. With Richard in our lives, we decided to move to Park Slope, Brooklyn and sell my shares of the Chelsea store to my business partner. It was just too much for one person to handle. The PTA was calling and I was ready to act as an active parent in my child’s education.

In March of the following year, we brought home our second child, Sean. At 4 years old he and Richard, now 5, sure hit it off and became fast friends and the best of brothers. Our life was “Instant Family”. We decided then that we were in need of a place to go on the weekends and holidays and have a place for the kids to get out doors and play around. So we bought a wonderful house with 4 bedrooms, 2-baths on 3 acres of land in Dingmans Ferry, PA. Right off of the Delaware Water Gap. In the area, please let me know, our door is always opened to our friends and family.

Being in Park Slope, Kevin and I realized that this would be the best place for a candle store and that I should open up a store of my very own. June 13, 1998 (Brooklyn Pride Day) I opened what is now BIG WICK candles and more at 215 7th Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11215 Toll-free (877) BIG WICK or (718) 832-4844. I carry candles and candle related items from over 500 different manufacturing companies and artists from around the world. (Know of any cool candle-makers or candles- please let me know I am always on the look out for fun and innovative products.) Plans are in the works for a mail-order division as well as an on-line candle catalog. Also, within the store we are working on having an area to bring in candle-makers from around the world sharing their talents in candle-making classes.

Sounds like a lot I know. I have recently sold my interest in the Broadway location of Candleshtick and I’m in the process of simplifying my life. Once the boys are ready for middle school and Kevin is no longer on the school board of our district we have decided that a move out west to the San Francisco area is definitely in order.

And now I’m up to date…until we meet again… Love and light to all.

Contact: g_allardmendelson@hotmail.com