by Steve Arnold

Our production of The Reluctant Dragon that opens this week features a young man in a leading role that has recently become one of our most active regular members.  Rob Glass, now in his second year as vocal music instructor for Washington High School in Vinton, has in the past year been regularly involved in several ACT I productions, and for this issue of Grease Paint we feature him as ACT I's Member of the Month.

Originally from Fairfield, Rob is a 2001 graduate of Wartburg College in Waverly, where he studied with David Katz, who appeared with ACT I in 2000 as Dr. Craven in The Secret Garden.  At Wartburg, Rob sang with every vocal ensemble possible and played the role of Gad in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  During his college years he also traveled to Europe and Australia twice.

While a student at Fairfield High School, Rob appeared in Alladin, Anything Goes, and played the title role in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.  For the Fairfield Community Theatre, he appeared in The Wizard of Oz and The Music Man.

Since coming to Vinton, Rob has been very busy with his teaching responsibilities.  He directs concert choir, DanSingCorps Show Choir, chamber choir.   He has also served as music director for two WHS musicals, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown last year and this season's Guys and Dolls.  Rob says he’s really enjoying himself as a member of the WHS faculty.

ACT I patrons will get a chance to see Rob Glass (right) as the Boy in our upcoming musical The Reluctant Dragon.  Rob is pictured with Gerald Horst who plays St. George in the production at the Palace this weekend and next.

After enjoying several ACT I shows as a patron, Rob decided to get into the "ACT," so to speak, and auditioned for a role in last year's season finale, It Runs in the Family.  In that production, he was cast in the role of Police Sergeant Connolly, whose misadventures with a selzer bottle provided some uproarious comic moments.  Next up for Rob was the assignment of music director for this season's musical Kiss Me, Kate.  Following that, he appeared in our Christmas production, Intermezzo III, Silent Night, in which he was featured in several solo and ensemble numbers.

Rob Glass as Seargent Connolly takes a direct hit from the seltzer bottle in last season's hit comedy It Runs in the Family at the Palace Theatre.

Soon after the Intermezzo recital, Rob took on his current role, the Boy in The Reluctant Dragon.  Rob says of his involvement thus far in three major ACT I productions, “So far I’ve worked with three completely different groups of people, and all have been really fun and unique.”

We thank Rob for his talent and dedication to ACT I and wish for many more years with us, both as a teacher and an ACT I member!

Update:

Well, those many more years with us didn't happen after all; at the end of the 2003 - 2004 school year, Rob decided to take off for graduate school, leaving WHS once more with the task of hiring another vocal music director!

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