{"id":97577,"date":"2018-01-16T10:14:20","date_gmt":"2018-01-16T15:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=97577"},"modified":"2018-01-17T09:31:24","modified_gmt":"2018-01-17T14:31:24","slug":"van-wert-native-enjoying-first-civic-theatre-directing-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/01\/16\/van-wert-native-enjoying-first-civic-theatre-directing-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Wert native enjoys directing at VWCT"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

While his reasons for returning to Van Wert were to deal with the deaths of his mother and a brother, Matt Krol has again embraced the community he grew up in.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Matt Krol (right) directs actors Stan Lippi and Kelly Smith in a scene from the Van Wert Civic Theatre production of Deathtrap<\/em>.<\/strong> Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a varied career that included operating a chain of furniture stores for Warren Buffet\u2019s company in Houston, Texas, from which he retired early, and jobs as a realtor and executive caterer in the Chicago area, Krol moved back to his hometown in 2015, mostly to complete remaining work on his mother\u2019s estate following the sudden death of his brother, John, who was his mother\u2019s caregiver, of a massive heart attack.<\/p>\n

It was a move he thought would be temporary, but two years later he\u2019s still here and enjoying small-town life after years in the big city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed reconnecting with old friends … and the very affordable cost of living,\u201d Krol said of his return to Van Wert.<\/p>\n

But with time on his hands, Krol, a theatre major at UCLA briefly and then Indiana University, decided to do some acting in local theatre, first with Off Stage Productions, which he learned of through an old friend who was on the Off Stage board. It was the first time he had been on a Van Wert stage since he was the stage manager for Van Wert Civic Theatre’s production of Godspell<\/em> back in the 1970s. He also had a small part in the VWCT version of The Miracle Worker <\/em>before leaving for college.<\/p>\n

Then another old friend, Lori Kirkendall Allen, who was on the VWCT board, approached him to direct the VWCT production of the mystery-comedy Deathtrap<\/em> when veteran director George Dunster had to back out because of ill health.<\/p>\n

Although he had been in theatre for years, directing the VWCT production of Deathtrap<\/em> that begins this weekend was a first for Krol.<\/p>\n

Directing was something, though, that came naturally to him from his background as a theatre major and his career as a retail executive, and he said he is enjoying doing Deathtrap, which he said he was familiar with from its original run on Broadway.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually remembered the show from the late Seventies and early Eighties,\u201d Krol said, noting that the play remains one of the longest-running comedy-mysteries of all time.<\/p>\n

He is also enjoying working with the five-member cast of the production, as well as helping design the excellent set being used for the play.<\/p>\n

Deathtrap<\/em> revolves around playwright Sidney Bruhl, played by Stan Lippi, who is looking to make a comeback after experiencing a few flops. He is also a bit resentful of having to live off his wife, Myra (Kelly Smith), an heiress who provides most of the money in the family, while he is left with doing some theatre workshops to stay involved with the theatre world.<\/p>\n

But then he receives a manuscript from aspiring playwright Clifford Anderson (Josh Campbell), who had attended one of his workshops and sought out his opinion on his first play.<\/p>\n

Bruhl sees that Anderson\u2019s manuscript is a surefire hit and promptly tries to discover a way to steal it for himself. The plot then takes a number of twists and turns before its surprise d\u00e9nouement.<\/p>\n

In addition to the three main characters, Deathtrap includes two supporting characters: Helga ten Dorp (Amy McConn), a Dutch psychic who is a neighbor of the Bruhls in Westport, Connecticut, and Porter Milgrim (Ed Eichler), Sidney Bruhl\u2019s attorney.<\/p>\n

Krol said it was sort of a humorous challenge to do Deathtrap<\/em> in its original timeframe.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly myself and Ed Eichler are old enough to remember 1978,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cSome of the references in the show, I literally had to have a class to explain who they were.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krol said he was proud of the plush set for Deathtrap<\/em>, which also includes some interesting weapons, including a crossbow that features in the play that was actually crafted by Lippi.<\/p>\n

The director said Deathtrap<\/em> fits right into his genre favorites.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love murder mysteries and absurd comedy,\u201d he noted in the bio in the VWCT program for Deathtrap.<\/em><\/p>\n

While directing the play has been fun, it also has presented some challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of both holidays, Christmas and New Year\u2019s, we have a very short rehearsal schedule, so trying to maximize what we can accomplish has been challenging,\u201d Krol said, adding that he would have liked a couple more weeks of rehearsal time.<\/p>\n

Deathtrap will begin this Thursday, January 18, and run through this weekend and January 25-28. Shows start at 8 p.m. for evening performances and 2 p.m. for Sunday matinees. Tickets are $13 apiece and are available at the VWCT box office, 419.238.9689, from 2-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.<\/p>\n

In addition to the fun of directing, Krol continues to enjoy his time back in Van Wert, noting that city residents are very lucky to have such great cultural and school facilities in a community of only 10,000 people.<\/p>\n

Having two thriving theatre groups and a performing arts center such as the Niswonger Performing Arts Center, as well as Wassenberg Art Center and the new schools, are something Krol said most small cities aren\u2019t lucky to enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor While his reasons for returning to Van Wert were to deal with the deaths of his mother and a brother, Matt Krol has again embraced the community he grew up in. After a varied career that included operating a chain of furniture stores for Warren Buffet\u2019s company in Houston, Texas, from which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 01:40:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}