Last Friday, Mer and I got together with our friend Craig, and we headed down to Akron to Actors’ Summit Theater to see the one-man show Bully. Bully is the story of Theodore Roosevelt, and Craig teaches social studies at CVCA, so we figured he would like it. It turns out that Craig knows a ton about Roosevelt, having read several biographies on him. I am fond of Teddy since he fought against trusts and set aside national park land, and Mer and I both like getting our history from theatrical performances. So, we expected it to be a good evening.

It was. The actor playing Teddy, Neil Thackaberry, did a very fine job. I’m always impressed with one-man shows, since I’m not sure what happens if you forget a line as an actor – there is no one on stage to help cover for you. Also, during the performance we saw, a man in the audience passed out briefly. He was able to walk out of the theater with the paramedics, and we were told after the show he was fine, which was great news. But, what impressed me from a theater viewpoint was how Neil came off stage, helped the man to the lobby, made sure he was all right, and then came back in and picked up the play from where he had stopped. It was pretty impressive.

Also impressive was Teddy himself. He was quite a man, and quite complex. He fought in war and wanted the U.S. to go in to Europe in WWI earlier than we did, but he won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating peace between Japan and Russia. Teddy loved to hunt, but set aside park lands. He was widely read, and spoke several languages. He lost both his mother and his first wife on the same day, which was Valentine’s Day. He married again, and lost a son in WWI. It was a fascinating life to watch on stage.

The set was simple – it was a fairly faithful reproduction of Teddy’s study in his home. There were several levels to the study, so it lent itself to other locations (such as the back of a train).

There was a brief talk-back after the show, where the audience got to ask Neil questions, and Neil was joined by a local news man who is an amateur expert on Roosevelt. I do not remember too much of the specifics of the talk, but Mer and I always like such talks – they put the play into more perspective.

After the show, Craig went with us to Friday’s for dessert (we had a gift card). Craig’s family was out of town, so he was free to stay out as late as he liked. Craig is a very funny and creative man, so we had rather a good time talking and laughing over our Brownie Obsession desserts. We did not get home until past 11:00 – it was a very fun evening.