Open Forum in The Villages, Florida
This weekly podcast will cover in detail, people, clubs and activities here in The Villages, Florida. Each show will run 10-30 minutes. Become a Supporter of this show for $3/month. Supporters will have access to all episodes. Our newest Supporters will get a Shout-out during a show.
Open Forum in The Villages, Florida
Behind the Curtain: Dean Corbett’s Acting Adventures
In this episode of Open Forum in The Villages, Florida, host Mike Roth interviews Dean Corbett, an accomplished actor and teacher. Dean shares his fascinating journey from studying engineering to becoming an actor, his experiences learning under renowned instructors in New York, and anecdotes featuring famous personalities like Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman. Dean also discusses his contributions to the local theater scene in The Villages, his acting classes for non-actors, and his dreams of establishing a professional repertory company. The episode concludes with valuable advice for aspiring actors and insights into maintaining brain health from Dr. Craig Curtis.
Open Forum in The Villages, Florida is Produced & Directed by Mike Roth
A new episode will be released most Fridays at 9 AM
Direct all questions and comments to mike@rothvoice.com
If you know a Villager who should appear on the show, please contact us at: mike@rothvoice.com
Welcome to the Open Forum in The Villages, Florida podcast. In this show, we talk to leaders in the community, leaders of clubs, and interesting folks who live here in the villages to get perspectives of what is happening here in The Villages Florida. We are a listener supported podcast.
Mike Roth:How can you support our podcast? This is Mike Roth and listeners. I'm thrilled to share with you this podcast, which is my passion project for you. This podcast brings me joy, brings you knowledge, inspiration, and a lot of things that people need to know about the villages and the people that are living here and what's actually going on. Creating this podcast is a labor of love, even though it demands more time than I can easily spare. But Hey, time isn't something we can buy back right now. Here's where you come in. The unsung heroes and heroines. You can help us keep the podcast alive and thriving. How? By becoming a supporter. There are two simple ways that you can support us. The first is a small monthly donation. Visit our podcast website, openforuminthevillagesflorida. com and click on the black supporter box. Even a small three to 10 a month donation makes a difference. And guess what? You can cancel any time, no strings attached. The second way that you can contribute to the podcast is by making a purchase of an Amazon product at Amazon standard prices. And we are paid a small commission on each purchase as an Amazon affiliate. That way there's no extra money out of your pocket, but you are supporting the podcast. Check every week because we're going to be adding new Amazon products that you can buy and support the podcast with. Thank you. And your support means the world to us. Stay curious, stay inspired, and keep those headphones on. Mike Roth on Open Forum in The Villages, Florida. I'm here today with Dean Corbett. Thanks for joining me, Dean.
Dean Corbett:You're welcome. Thanks for having me.
Mike Roth-1:Okay. Dean, welcome. is a long time member of the Actors Equity and Dean played in numerous roles off Broadway in New York City. regional theater, professional summer stock. He did eight seasons there. Dean has taught acting and stagecraft at Bard College in New York And I ran into Dean my first year in The Villages in 2018, when I took the Actors Workshop Club. Thanks for joining us again, Dean. Dean, why don't you tell us, our listeners, a little bit about why you decided to become an actor?
Dean Corbett:It was when I was at USC in California. It was my first year in college. I was studying to be an engineer. And I had a minor in drama.
Mike Roth-1:Oh, okay. I studied my first year to be a, actually two years, to be an engineer.
Dean Corbett:Okay. And in the drama course, I was asked to do a book report. And I chose a book called The Fervent Ears by Harold Clorman, who was a well known director in New York at that time. And his story was about the group theater in the 1930s. Actors that got together outside of New York City in the summer prepared themselves with a play to do on Broadway. And also had some teaching of a new acting technique from Russia, from a director called Stanislavski and it was Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler of the group theater that would teach this new acting technique. Anyway, I gave this report, and from that on I decided to become an actor.
Mike Roth-1:So Dean, you learned acting, or started to learn acting, as a minor subject at UCLA.
Dean Corbett:Yes.
Mike Roth-1:Who was your instructor?
Dean Corbett:I don't remember.
Mike Roth-1:Okay, but the instructor was teaching about Stanislavski.
Dean Corbett:In general about theater and acting. Yes. And you said, I don't remember the instructor, but I had an interesting co student there.
Mike Roth-1:Who was that?
Dean Corbett:And that was Blackstone Junior, the magician. Harry Blackstone.
Mike Roth-1:Harry Blackstone, the magician. Wow.
Dean Corbett:Yeah. Anyway, I remember that.
Mike Roth-1:And he was in the acting course because he was learning how to act to be a better magician?
Dean Corbett:Correct. Correct. Wow. That's right. Many years later, I ran into him, he was doing his magic at trade shows, industrial trade shows and stuff like that, yeah.
Mike Roth-1:Yeah that's one of the clubs I still belong to in The Villages, is the Magic Club.
Dean Corbett:Oh, okay.
Mike Roth-1:You should come to the Magic Club and tell us about Harry Blackstone.
Dean Corbett:Yeah interestingly enough at one time I wanted to become a magician too, but I was only maybe 8 years old at that time.
Mike Roth-1:Okay, maybe a lot of,kids want to be a magician at 8 years old. It seems like something really good to do.
Dean Corbett:Yeah, but also, Not just because of the class. Previously, in high school and stuff, I did acting in the acting plays and so forth. And I also did some stand up comedy.
Mike Roth-1:Oh, okay. We still have a stand up comedy club here in The Villages.
Dean Corbett:Yes, I know.
Mike Roth-1:The interesting part of that was, take me back to high school talking about acting. I was, I took a year of acting in my senior year and maybe it was my junior and senior year of high school. And I was given the choice of having a speaking part in a play. On stage, or I could run the lighting system.
Dean Corbett:But anyway, that was my first big push to become an actor.
Mike Roth-1:Now, you went to acting schools in New York City?
Dean Corbett:From California, I went to New York City. Enrolled in acting school. And after Two or three years I had gone through maybe three or four schools.
Mike Roth-1:And did you meet anyone who became famous at these acting schools?
Dean Corbett:Yes, I did. And in one school I had a gal who was learning to act and actually she was a singer. But she wanted to be an actor. And she sang down in Greenwich Village at the Bonsoir. And she had a fan club and I was one of them. And we would go hear her sing and so forth. And that gal was Barbara Streisand. And so I, later, we were together in Summerstock, and one particular event was in between rehearsals, she would go out into the parking lot and Start, try to drive this pickup truck, which was part of the company's vehicles. She couldn't do it because it was a shift gear.
Mike Roth-1:Manual transmission.
Dean Corbett:Exactly. And so she'd start and stop. And the producers were very concerned that she's going to, crash the car or something, the truck. And so I said maybe I can help her. And I went and I said, Barbara, let's take the truck. Of course, I can drive the truck. Take it down the street and I'll teach you how to drive it. And she said, fine. I taught her how to drive a stick shift and she learned, she appreciated it. She never tried the truck again. I don't know. Is that reverse psychology or something?
Mike Roth-1:I don't know. Depends on what you said to her. Did you ever contact her later when she became famous and said, Hey, I'm the guy who taught you how to drive a manual transmission?
Dean Corbett:No of course, we knew each other after that, too. And the last time that I did see her, and I remember this, on 48th Street and 8th Avenue, and bumped into her, And I had already been teaching at Bard College. And she mentioned to me, Boy, Dean, that's the most money you've probably ever made, teaching at the college. I said, yes. But later on I thought, no, that was wrong. I made more money working for UPS
Mike Roth-1:In those days, actors didn't get a lot of money. When I moved to L. A., I remember this. We went out to buy a washer dryer refrigerator for a new condo that we bought. And, the salesman was very good. He upsold me on a lot of stuff. I was happy with what I bought. I said, we'll be back to see you when we need more. He said, no you won't. I said, what do you mean? He says I just took a job as a writer for the Gong show. For the 15 years I spent in L. A., there were always celebrities that you ran into. And would be's who were the waiters and waitresses at Marie Callender.
Dean Corbett:Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Mike Roth:you have any other particular memories that you had from the acting schools in New York City?
Dean Corbett:yeah you mentioned famous people. That same school where Barbara Streisand and I went. I didn't really have the total amount of money to pay for the tuition. But the registrar said you can work for us part time. As a janitor. I said, great. He said, of course, you're going to have to share. The duties with the other janitor, and figure out your schedule and all of that. His name is Dustin Hoffman. Okay. Yeah. And later on also in the Summerstock Theater, I was in a play with him, and played with him. Pretty much bumped into him until he got his part in The Graduate.
Mike Roth-1:Yeah, that was a great part.
Dean Corbett:Yeah.
Mike Roth-1:Now, I'm going to fast forward for you to when you got here to The Villages. Sure. And you get the idea to teach acting classes to non actors here in The Villages
Dean Corbett:okay, so this is with the Enrichment Academy. Oh, so that's where it's audited. Yeah, the classes that I first started, the Actor Studio Acting Lab that was to anybody that you could be already an actor. And I would just help carry you along if I could.
Mike Roth-1:How long Did that go on, that you were teaching in the States?
Dean Corbett:That was ten years. And the reason it's called the Actor's Studio Acting Class is because I was a member of the Actor's Studio in New York with Lee Strasberg, who of course was my teacher, and that was the person I had read about and gave a report in college.
Mike Roth-1:So that must have been thrilling by itself.
Dean Corbett:Oh yeah. And so anyway, did the Actors Studio Acting Lab here. And thinking about a course to give at the Enrichment Academy. I had an old friend in New York, an actor director, and he taught. acting for non actors at the Learning Annex in New York. He taught for 30 years, acting, but I never knew his curriculum. But anyway, that's what I started thinking about for the Academy. And so I came up with acting classes for non actors. And with my own curriculum.
Mike Roth-1:And how long ago did you start that?
Dean Corbett:Oh, it's been a couple of years at least.
Mike Roth-1:Okay. Are you going forward with those courses?
Dean Corbett:Oh yeah. absolutely.
Mike Roth:So when is the next course in the Enrichment Academy?
Dean Corbett:It'll be in the fall.
Mike Roth:In the fall,
Dean Corbett:And the course is six weeks and really it's a crash course in acting. because it goes all the way from the Greeks up through Stanislavski, who I mentioned. And also. Includes voice speech, memorization. and other acting techniques.
Mike Roth-1:Good. And about how many people have come through those classes?
Dean Corbett:I my maximum is 20, which I've had a few times, and I would say an average of 15.
Mike Roth-1:Do people get homework in your classes?
Dean Corbett:They have scenes and, monologues that they study and so forth. They don't have to memorize it for this class just to come in and do it with the script.
Mike Roth-1:So it's like a 101. Yeah, exactly, 101. Are you ever going to do like a 201 or a 301 class?
Dean Corbett:I have, and unfortunately I didn't get the minimum of students. And that's one where We get together and study techniques and so forth, and we end up with a showcase, a one night showcase for those actors in that class and they perform for an audience.
Mike Roth-1:Oh yeah, I think I went to one of your showcases.
Dean Corbett:Oh yeah. That's right.
Mike Roth-1:It was very good. Okay. Let's take a short break and listen to an Alzheimer's tip from Dr. Craig Curtis. Dr. Curtis, what can someone do if they know that they have Alzheimer's that runs in their family?
Dr.Craig Curtis:There's a lot that they can do. Published actually in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February of 2024, so this month this was a study done primarily at Rush University in Chicago. Looking at those with brain amyloid, so those people that already have amyloid, can a healthy lifestyle protect them from developing dementia? And the answer was yes, by following these five healthy habits that were tracked. And those where they did not smoke, They did moderate exercise for at least 150 minutes a week. They kept their alcohol consumptive diet. And they used autopsies. They actually used approximately 530 autopsies to prove that those that followed those healthy lifestyle habits or had those healthy lifestyle habits. Actually had less amyloid. It correlated those had less amyloid in their brain.
Warren:With over 20 years of experience studying brain health, Dr. Curtis's goal is to educate the village's community on how to live a longer, healthier life. To learn more, visit his website, craigcurtismd.com, or call 3 5 2 5 0 0 5 2 5 2 to attend a free seminar.
Mike Roth-1:I'm back with Dean Corbett. And we're talking about acting here in The Villages. Dean in The Villages, why don't you tell us about some of the productions that you've actually produced for a live audience?
Dean Corbett:Yeah, okay. 10 years with the Actor's Studio Acting Lab which I transformed into the Actor's Theater Lab for performances. And we did various performances of including improv, but this is improv for theater, not comedy improv.
Mike Roth-1:Oh, yeah. I remember. That was a long form improv.
Dean Corbett:Correct. And with that I know we did a one act play a Pinter play, and then after that we did which I wrote and directed was a play called The Honeymooners Meet the Twilight Zone. And that's, a comedy where the honeymooners Alice and Ralph, Cramden. Because of the tV waves in the air. Mixed with the TV waves of the show. The Twilight Zone. so now. They were mixed up with a couple of Twilight episodes. One with Heat coming into their apartment in New York. And also, oddly enough, Rod Serling appears to help the situation and clear things up. That, that's the premise of the show.
Mike Roth-1:How long ago did you do it? Oh, that was about four or five, no, five years ago, five years ago. And then after that we did a show called another improv one and a half hour called Murder by Improv. Oh, I remember that one.
Dean Corbett:Yeah. And that did well.
Mike Roth-1:And that was the show where every night there was a different perpetrator. Correct, because the detective in the show, we had to wait, and the actor, of course. He decided who did it. We didn't know. It was very good. That was the show that Wayne Richards was in. Correct. And, in the middle of acting, he would break into song. And I remember that was a high point, an a point in the show, That really made the show alive. Because no one expected a detective to break into song.
Dean Corbett:Let's face it. I had to come up with something. Okay. So I said, Wayne, here's a place we're going to you're going to become the singing detective. And he came up and wrote the songs of, I gave him an idea of what they should be. And yeah.
Mike Roth-1:Very talented guy.
Dean Corbett:Yeah. Very talented guy.
Mike Roth-1:Let me go back to the Honeymooners episode with the Twilight Zone mixed in. Yeah, it sounds like it would have been a very funny play, was it?
Dean Corbett:It was. The audience enjoyed it. We had a sell out audience and so forth.
Mike Roth-1:Where did you run it?
Dean Corbett:Actually at the Bacall Rec Center.
Mike Roth-1:Okay. Have any thought of ever bringing that play back for a new audience?
Dean Corbett:Yes. And I probably should. You probably should. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Mike Roth-1:I'll bet you could make a deal with Rebecca Zelanin to put it in on a Friday night. in the same hall than Bacall.
Dean Corbett:I picked Bacall, of course, because it's Lauren Bacall. And, of course, you know they have that statue of Humphrey there.
Mike Roth-1:The first week I was in one of your acting classes there, I had someone else take a picture of me with that statue.
Dean Corbett:And, of course, the theme, of course, is theater and movies. A lot of really good photographs of Bacall.
Mike Roth-1:Do you ever feel homesick for New York?
Dean Corbett:when we first got here, and that was in 2003. I thought I would become homesick. But what happens about New York? year later, they built Barnes Noble. Now Barnes Noble, when I arrived in New York City, there was only one Barnes Noble, and that was on 17th Street and 5th Avenue. And of course, by 2003, Barnes Noble is all over the country. And to have it come into The Villages, was great. Making me feel more at home. Also, we had a Walmart. It opened 24 hours a day. In New York, things are open 24 hours. So that made me feel home. So a lot of things made me feel home. But as far as when I, you say I get homesick, I could when I hear the song New York. New York. Okay. And that song takes me back again back to the summer theater. And we had a friend of the general manager came up and he was a composer and on the porch we
Mike Roth-7:had
Dean Corbett:a piano that we practiced on. And, we were sitting there, some other people, and he started talking. He had written two Broadway musicals, which were failures. And he was working on the third.
Mike Roth-1:Not unusual to have a failure on this musical on Broadway.
Dean Corbett:That's right. So he was working on the third, and he played the music to it for us. Which was wonderful. And what do you know? It became a hit, it was called Cabaret.
Mike Roth-1:Oh.
Dean Corbett:And he wrote also new York. The music.
Mike Roth-1:Same guy.
Dean Corbett:Same guy. New York. New York. So when, course, when I hear that, I get and homesick and reminds me that later on, he became a one of the members of our board for a theater project at Bard College. We were going to do a repertory in, in the a repertory theater in the summers at Bard College. And he agreed to be on our board to raise money and so forth for that. Bard is about 60 miles north of New York City. Yeah. Did I mention who that composer was?
Mike Roth:So Dean, who was it that actually wrote the New York song?
Dean Corbett:John Kander. And he became a very good friend. And I said he agreed to be on our board of directors for our repertory theater project. And of course he. did much more than just cabaret, okay, which was good.
Mike Roth-1:And as for your theater work, where do we go from here?
Dean Corbett:That's a good question because When I, first of all, I always told my wife that I'm not retiring, okay? And carrying on with theater work, to me, is not retiring. My object, of course, originally was to possibly have a repertory company here. Of actually professional actors, according to Actors Equity we can hire, two, three equity union actors, without having the whole cast being union. And use local, which we would train to be in these shows. Shows that would have use classical plays. And also original plays, and to work on the original plays possibly to tour across the country or even go to New York. That's always been my goal, in a way. I started the Bible study theater, which also coincides because it's a theater that not just uses people from The Villages, but also uses younger people from the area to participate as actors.
Mike Roth-1:Okay. So in that environment, probably doing the show at a theater in the church, and you don't have to worry about whether someone's a village resident or not.
Dean Corbett:Okay. Actually, I'm not doing it in a church.
Mike Roth-1:Oh.
Dean Corbett:I do it at a coffee shop called the Standard Coffee Shop which is outside of The Villages. It's in a a village shopping plaza. They happen to have a room in the back that is big enough for a little theater for that. And the reason for that is to get people interested of course in the Bible, about the Bible. It happens to be on Saturdays, too. And local people can come in to see a scene from the Bible, and then we have a pastor or a priest give the study. And we also have some music and some some, Singing and all of that mixed together. So that's that. That, the other part, the professional theater, would be similar, which would be outside of The Villages, of course.
Mike Roth-1:Have you located the theater to perform that in?
Dean Corbett:No, not yet. And through the years, what you find out is, it's not that easy, of course. Of course, it's not that easy, even in New York, or Los Angeles, or wherever you are. But I recall In fact, this director, who I got the idea from acting classes for non actors Arthur Reel, he, when I first got to New York, invited me to help him with a reading. for a play that he was doing. And he hired actors, professional actors. At that time, the professional actor only got 10 for reading the script that night, and there's one Actor that needed the ten dollars, but he later became pretty famous.
Mike Roth-1:And who was that?
Dean Corbett:Peter Falk.
Mike Roth-1:Peter Falk,
Dean Corbett:okay. Yeah Columbo.
Mike Roth:Yeah. Let me ask you one last question.
Dean Corbett:Let me finish about that because that was auditioning investors for the play.
Mike Roth-1:Okay.
Dean Corbett:Angels.
Mike Roth-1:Angel investors, sure.
Dean Corbett:So that's what I need here, are angels, to invest in a theater company.
Mike Roth-1:How much do you think that would cost? Did you do a budget?
Dean Corbett:To start here it's in the 20, 000, 20, 30, 000,
Mike Roth-1:20, 30, 000.
Dean Corbett:Yeah. That's the idea because otherwise we just continue doing what we're doing.
Mike Roth-1:Okay. Let me ask one last question before we have to sign off. Yeah.
Mike Roth:Knowing what you now know, what advice would you give, if you could, to a much younger 22 or 25 year old Dean Corbett?
Dean Corbett:Interestingly enough, starting the acting classes for non actors When I started, Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand, Stanislavski, Lee Strasberg, Method Acting, I researched this, and this is about three years ago, they're still doing that in New York, Chicago, LA. That's the thing that's going on. Right now. Okay. So I would say. that those actors should, obviously, learn this technique. There are other things to learn about acting, too. But to stick to that, which is truthfulness of acting, okay? That's what we're teaching. We're not teaching about oh learn this gesture learn that no It's about bringing your own creativity up to the forefront as an actor. okay that's one thing the other thing I would say is Keep auditioning Keep trying Different things, when I say different things, when I got to New York to become an actor, what didn't I like? Shakespeare. Musicals, I didn't like those. It didn't take long, I learned to love them. Shakespeare and musicals. And I was not a musician, But hey, in summer stock, they said, Dean, you gotta sing. So I started singing. So that's what an actor, if they immerse themselves in all of these things whether, of course, it would be non union or it would be, when I first got there, I was in children's plays and so forth. Those are the things keep doing. To get on stage. Get on stage. And I was almost going say become a waiter, but no.
Mike Roth-1:I met a lot of those in LA.
Dean Corbett:Keep plugging away.
Mike Roth-1:Keep plugging away. Yeah. Gotta keep plugging at your trade.
Dean Corbett:Exactly.
Mike Roth-1:Great. Thanks for being with us today on Open Forum in The Villages Florida
Mike Roth-9:Dean.
Dean Corbett:Great. Thank you. And listen, invite me again, because
Mike Roth-1:We can continue this conversation. More and more.
Dean Corbett:And instead of standing maybe we could sit down and, have a glass of wine and all of that.
Mike Roth-1:Yeah, I'll have to buy noiseless chairs for the room. Thanks very much, Dean.
Dean Corbett:Okay, good. Thanks. Bye.
Emily:Remember, our next episode will be released next Friday at 9am. Should you want to become a major supporter of the show or have questions, please contact us at mikeatrothvoice. com. This is a shout out for supporters Tweet Coleman, Ed Williams, Paul Sorgin, and major supporter Dr. Craig Curtis at K2 in the Villages. We will be hearing more from Dr. Curtis with short Alzheimer's tips each week. If you know someone who should be on the show, contact us at mike at rothvoice. com. We thank everyone for listening to the show. The content of the show is copyrighted by Rothvoice 2024. All rights reserved.