The skinny
Don received his BFA in Music Theatre from Illinois Wesleyan University. College credits include Billy Flynn in Chicago, Robbie Fay in A Man of No Importance, Sir Philip Modelove in Bold Stroke For a Wife, and Chebutykin in Three Sisters.
Chicago credits include Jason in bare (Bailiwick), Isaachar in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire), and ensemble in Jerry Springer the Opera (American Premiere at Bailiwick Repertory Theatre) and The Light in the Piazza (Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire).
Regional credits include Jerry in The Full Monty (Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse), Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls (Post Playhouse), Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Circa ’21), Lt. Joe Cable in South Pacific (Post Playhouse), Skimbleshanks in Cats (Central Piedmont Summer Theatre), and George Bailey in A Wonderful Life (Circa ’21).
The not so skinny
Memorial Junior High School
Don Denton began his acting career with the extremely famous/popular production, Santa and the Spacemen, during fifth grade at Oak Glen Elementary School. If you’ve never heard of the show, do yourself a favor and find a copy… somewhere. It is amazing.
In all seriousness, Don’s love for theatre and performance began during his time at Memorial Junior High School in Lansing, IL. It is thanks to Gloria Kijewski (then Fazio) that Don ended up doing theatre at all. It was her suggestion to Don one day after speech class that he audition for the upcoming production of Snoopy! in the spring of 1996.
Don had a blast with the show. He loved all the great kids that he became friends with and all the fun they had putting the show together. Robert Stookey, then choir director and English teacher at Memorial, was the music director for all the musicals at the school. He suggested that Don audition for the 7th/8th grade choir. It was great fun singing the songs for the show, so why not do that every day in class?
From that point on, Ms. Fazio and Mr. Stookey were instrumental in shaping Don’s love for theatre and singing. Gloria taught him all those great stage basics like “cheating” and was always enthusiastic about “ENERGY, VOLUME, and ENUNCIATION!” And it was actually Robert who planted the idea in Don’s head that this was just the beginning of a long “career” in theatre.
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It was only a short time before auditioning for Snoopy! that Don was introduced to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. His parents had seen Donny Osmond perform in the Canadian tour as it came through (read: did so well that it stayed forever in) Chicago. His father was not terribly enthusiastic about seeing the show, and his mother wanted to see it because she was a fan of Donny Osmond in her childhood. They both came back amazed at how much fun they had at the show. Don was especially intrigued by the fact that his father actually liked this “musical theatre” thing. The cast recording of “Joseph” was played nonstop for months in the Denton household. (Don has since done three productions of “Joseph” and, oddly, never had to memorize a single lyric.)
The following school year, and after Don had gotten his first taste of theatre by way of Snoopy!, he finally saw “Joseph” in person. Through some special arrangements with friends of the family who also came to see the show, Don and company were able to meet up with Donny Osmond in his dressing room after the show for a bit. Obvious questions for Donny would have been, “What is the best way to get started in theatre?” or “What do you think of Actors’ Equity?” or even just “Wait, so this is your job?”. The best question that a 12-year-old Don could muster at the time was “Hi.” Nevertheless, seeing the show and meeting Donny afterward still had their effect on Don.
Witnessing what theatre can be at a professional level inspired Don to really dig in to all the shows he would do in junior high. It was not until Memorial Junior High School’s production of The Music Man, though, that he realized he wanted to keep doing theatre as long as he possibly could. The show is hard for any Junior High to tackle and Don loved the challenge of it. He was very excited at the prospect of doing more shows of that size and scope in high school.
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Don will be forever grateful for the time he spent at Memorial Junior High. More importantly, though, he will always hold a special place in his heart for the people who are responsible for inspiring him to begin a career in theatre: Gloria Kijewski, Robert Stookey and… um… Donny Osmond.
Tune in next time for “Shawnee Heights High School” or “Tales from a Cafetoruim”.
