The Wives of DASJr, Phase I

A concern I had about many of my early stage roles was that my characters, for the most part, lacked romantic credibility. Could anyone seriously imagine the meek and stuttering Ronald Hawes as a great lover, or eccentric actor Blake Barton as a ladies' man? Not likely.
Despite this, I managed to rack up quite a collection of brides and wives in several plays. Within only my first year at CCC, no less than eleven people had been given a role as my "wife."
The following is a list of all the women up to 1999 who were fictionally married to me onstage. Included under each entry is:

* WIFE # 1, 2, 3, etc. (in order of onstage appearance)
* NAME of person
* WIFE she played
* PLAY we were in
* NOTES on the play, role, etc.

Additional info on these plays is given under the play entries listed back on the main stage page.

WIFE #1
NAME: Chris Faber
WIFE: Grace Enterprise
PLAY: Crawling Arnold
NOTES: Ah, my first time...being married, that is. Anyway, Chris (DJ for WENY 92.7 FM) was a very early replacement for Valerie Lebak, who became too ill at the time to even attend college classes. Chris's real husband helped with much of the crew work, including lighting. In the show, Grace has two kids with me (Arnold and Little Will), and is head of the "Gratification Committee" of the "Husbands Fullfilment League."

WIFE #2
NAME: Amber LaBella
WIFE: Sharon Cane (played by an actress)
PLAY: Take Five
NOTES: Playing my pregnant wife, Amber was my first onstage kiss (albeit the most fake stage kiss I've ever received). In actuallity, her and I were playing actors that were playing the married couple, but who cares? Amber's boyfriend, by the way, was part of the backstage crew (including lighting). Because the script called for it, he got to drop a wall on my character's head.

WIFE #3
NAME: Kim Husband
WIFE: "Woman at Party [#4]"
PLAY: The Russian Nutcracker (1995)
NOTES: Who'd have thought I'd have a Husband for a wife? Kim Husband, a dance teacher, was not only my third stage wife (with whom I had two fictional kids), but the third wife in a row that was romantically linked with a lighting guy at the time (although hers wasn't in the crew for this show).

WIFE #4
NAME: Tarah Green
WIFE: Miss Hearse, the Nurse
PLAY: Seven Brides for Dracula
NOTES: By playing Dracula in this show, I recieved plenty of brides/victims. This particular one sounded a little more pleased about being bitten.

WIFE #5
NAME: Laura Fusare
WIFE: Mrs. Half-Nelson
PLAY: Seven Brides for Dracula
NOTES: My frequent and favorite co-star at the time, Laura played my wife for only one of the two "Dracula" performances. This was because she had to play someone else's wife in Elmira Little Theater's "The Heidi Chronicles" the following day. Not that I felt cheated on; our characters hardly interacted in "Dracula".

WIFE #6
NAME: Colleen Cleary
WIFE: Odd Sister #1
PLAY: Seven Brides for Dracula
NOTES: A fellow acting student (as with everyone else in the show), our characters had no real interaction onstage.

WIFE #7
NAME: Rachel Calkins
WIFE: Odd Sister #2
PLAY: Seven Brides for Dracula
NOTES: No real interaction onstage.

WIFE #8
NAME: Liz Van Scoter
WIFE: Lily, the Maid
PLAY: Seven Brides for Dracula
NOTES: No real interaction onstage.

WIFE #9
NAME: Jill Demonstoy
WIFE: Lucy
PLAY: Seven Brides for Dracula
NOTES: In the show, her character refers to me as "Drackey", and we sing a duet together ("Transylvania Trance"). It was possibly the only time that Jill would concede to letting me anywhere near her, let alone her neck. I'll take "Drackey" over "Eww" any day.

WIFE #10
NAME: Lisa McLean
WIFE: Countess Dracula
PLAY: Seven Brides for Dracula
NOTES: Lisa was the only woman to play Dracula's wife during the entire show. She was quite faithful, except when Dr. Seward (Iggy Wozniak) flirted with her. The flirting was all Iggy's idea (not the script's), but who could blame him?

WIFE #11
NAME: Clare Reidy
WIFE: Mrs. Half-Nelson
PLAY: Seven Brides for Dracula
NOTES: The head director of the play (and teacher of the cast's acting class), she took Laura's place in the second and final performance. Again, no real character interaction onstage.

WIFE #12
NAME: Colleen Hogan
WIFE: "Woman at Party [#2]"
PLAY: The Russian Nutcracker (1996)
NOTES: In addition to bearing me three fictional children, Colleen brought my wife total up to an even dozen, making it twelve mates in sixteen months. (Take that, Liz Taylor!)

WIFE #13
NAME: Brynn Thomas
WIFE: Cathy
PLAY: Funny Girl
NOTES: During the one scene in which she played my wife, my character forgot to bring her to the train station! As with me, Brynn played several minor characters in the show. Her only character with a name was Cathy. So, even though she wasn't really "Cathy" when she was my wife, that's what I'll call her here.

WIFE #14
NAME: Leslie Benedict
WIFE: "Woman at Party [#2]"
PLAY: The Russian Nutcracker (1997)
NOTES: While Leslie had performed with me in all my previous productions of this ballet, she hadn't played my wife until now. Not only was Leslie in all three of the same productions I'd been in, but she had to wear the same yellow dress all three years in a row! As with last year, my wife had three kids.
Another note of interest: Jeff Spencer, a co-star in this year's production, used to date Leslie. Not only that, but the person playing Jeff's wife was Colleen Hogan, who played my wife in last year's production. Now that's what I call a swap!

WIFE #15
NAME: Stephanie Washburn
WIFE: Townswoman
PLAY: Romeo & Juliet (1998)
NOTES: Another ballet, another wife. It wasn't until the next-to-last rehearsal that I figured out that I even had a wife in this show!
The scene in which we play the married couple (with kids) is the first scene of the show. I get in a swordfight with Steve Dickinson when he "yells" at my wife. And who was Steve's wife in this show? None other than Leslie Benedict, my wife from the previous ballet!

WIFE #16
NAME: Kathy Gill
WIFE: Woman
PLAY: Romeo & Juliet (1998)
NOTES: Not only did I have Stephanie for a wife in this play, but I also had Kathy, who had co-starred with me in previous plays, and was my director for "Noises Off", which was rehearsing at the same time. For our scene, Kathy and I were guests at the Capulets' elegant family party.
There was much debate between her and I over whether or not she was my playing wife because she considered herself too old for me. She spent quite a while insisting that she was playing my aunt!

WIFE #17
NAME: Rachel Bryant
WIFE: Flavia Brent (played by Belinda Blair)
PLAY: Noises Off
NOTES: As with "Take Five", Rachel and I don't really play the married couple (Phillip and Flavia). Actually, we play two characters (Freddie and Belinda) that portray this couple (who may or may not have kids), in the play-within-a-play. Nonetheless, it's another pretend-wife to add to the ever-growing list.