A final bow for theater director
After 25 years, Mark Dressler is holding his final curtain call.
The theater director for Thurston Middle School and Laguna Beach High School will step down from his stage duties at the end of the school year. Though he is embarking on retirement, it doesn’t sound as if he will be slowing down when he leaves June 18.
“I’m ready for a new adventure,” said Dressler, 61. “I’m so happy I’ve got another chapter of artistic life in me.”
The schools’ upcoming play will be his third production of “Bye Bye Birdie,” and his final effort will be “You Can’t Take It With You” in June.
“I never planned all this to happen,” Dressler said.
Dressler, who acted during college and after graduation, was hired in 1990 as an English and history teacher at Thurston Middle School. He learned that the middle and high schools had no performing arts department, theater program or big musical productions. When he stopped by the high school, he noticed that the Artists’ Theatre, located on the campus, was in disrepair.
Mold grew on the wall. Ceiling tiles dropped fell to the floor. Three feet of stagnant water filled the orchestra pit.
“It was terrible,” Dressler said. “They stopped caring for the theater.”
After appearing before the school board and proposing a theater program, Dressler was able to secure a drama class.
Drama, he said, had fallen out of the school’s cultural education. To build excitement about the new program, he sent out student audition requests for “Grease.”
No one showed up.
He resorted to recruiting students by asking a few boys in a garage band to play the role of singers.
When he opened “Grease,” Dressler said, he was shocked to see people line up down Park Avenue waiting to get into the theater. His first show — which ran for three nights — sold out.
*
It’s not poisonous, right?
He said he and the students are in the business of making memories — good and bad.
“You wouldn’t believe the mishaps,” Dressler said.
Like the time a snake went missing in the theater.
The students were working on a production of “You Can’t Take It With You,” and the show called for snake. Most directors, he said, would have used a replica, but Dressler thought it’d be more exciting to have a real reptile onstage.
He worked out a deal with a seventh-grader who owned a python to use the pet for the show. The two left the snake in its cage in the dressing room.
One morning, Dressler recalled, he went into the dressing room to check on the living prop.
It was gone.
“I couldn’t tell the kids,” he said. “I couldn’t even tell my wife. I knew it would scare everyone, even though I knew the snake was friendly and non-poisonous.”
He rushed to Reptiles Reptropolis, a San Clemente-based store, and bought a snake replacement for about $200.
The show went on.
No one knew the snake was a substitute, but there was just one problem: The missing python still had not been found.
Two months after the production, Dressler said, he went to grab an accessory in the dressing room and saw the familiar snake slither over a pile of costumes.
“Now we can laugh about it,” he said. “That’s a big thing I’ll miss — the students’ laughter. Kids have such a great sense of humor.”
*
‘Make sure you have it’
“I’m just waiting to get this going,” said Dressler as he stood before the stage during a Monday night rehearsal.
But it’s impossible for the teacher who built the performing arts program at Laguna Beach High to stand still.
“How are we doing here?” he asked a group of students in charge of sound behind the stage. “Are we getting situated with the right mics?”
Students cleared the hallway for the man behind the plays and musicals as he passed dozens of racks brimming with costumes.
“We’re doing props,” he said. “Make sure you have it.”
He pointed to a group of students in charge of the scenery.
“They’re incredible,” he said.
About the importance of getting it right, he said one little mistake can stop a show.
Over the years, Dressler has organized more than 100 school productions and fostered the talents of countless successful alumni, including Erika Whalen Schindele, Mayor Bob Whalen’s daughter.
Whalen Schindele, who is currently playing Cecily Pigeon in “The Odd Couple” at the Laguna Playhouse, was Dressler’s student from sixth to 12th grade and has worked alongside Dressler for nine years as a choreographer at Laguna Beach High.
“It’s such a legacy he built for these students, who come from all walks of life,” she said. “Laguna is so lucky to have this theatrical arts program, and it’s thanks to his enthusiasm.”
Dressler’s students rave about how caring and loving their teacher is, adding that he expects the best out of them but strikes a good balance between making the class fun and getting down to business.
Lauren Spera, student stage manager of “Bye Bye Birdie,” called Dressler a great director through the four years that she has helped manage performances at Laguna Beach High.
“Mr. Dressler has the ability to manage each cast member and make each person feel special for the show,” Spera said.
Marlie Becker, a senior who has performed in shows for seven years under Dressler, said her experience with the Laguna Beach High’s theater department has been about building friendships and developing a strong work ethic to become a stronger performer and a stronger person.
“No matter what, he puts faith in you,” Becker said. “It’s not being about the star — it’s about being a part of the cast and that you’ll bring forward all your talent.”
*
Back to the beach
Dressler said he doesn’t worry about who takes his place, but insists the position be filled.
“This needs to be the first job hired, because we don’t want the performing arts department to slide,” Dressler said.
He notes that the program can only get better with more instruction of technical skills and acting for the camera.
Dressler plans to return to the theater to watch student performances, direct in different venues, take an acting class and audition again.
He’ll golf and spend time with his wife of almost 30 years, Penny, and their two grown children. Having his two sons in the program years ago overwhelmed him with pride, he recalls.
And he’ll be surfing at Salt Creek Beach — which plays into a nice metaphor for his career.
“If you stay in a wave for too long, it’s going to be an unpleasant ride,” Dressler said. “I want to cut out cleanly of this wave, have a nice ride out and then paddle out again to catch another one.”
If You Go
What: “Bye Bye Birdie”
When: Friday to March 29; 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays
Where: Laguna Beach High School, Artists’ Theatre, 625 Park Ave.
Cost: $10 to $20
Information: (949) 497-7769 or visit lbusd.org