The Second Act - A Way of Life

I enjoy being part of community theater. It provides me with a creative opportunity to act, direct, and occasionally even write. Community theater is an amateur endeavor. It’s an effort by and for the community where people participate in all aspects of theatrical production simply because they love it. And, as seriously as some of us take our fun, there are those around us that approach it at an entirely different level.

Rich Haptonstall, now in his ninth year as a full-time faculty member in the theater department of Flathead Valley Community College, is one of those. The theater program at FVCC is heading into its most successful year ever, with over 25 theater majors planning to attend in the Fall. And Rich, having spent his professional life working in theater, is there to advise them.

“It’s not a career, it’s a way of life,” he advises. “You don’t get a license to be an actor. You just have that commitment to excel that becomes a way of life. It’s like climbing a mountain that has no top. The day you feel you get it right is the day you should get out.”

“Not many will be stars,” he says. “There aren’t that many opportunities to be a star. But there are a lot of opportunities to work in theater.”

“The people who succeed in theater get it,” he continues. “A job in theater does not end at 4 p.m. Theater is a company of people who do what needs to be done for the art.”

“It’s a bit of a calling. Certain people understand that it’s a rough road with few rewards that requires a constant commitment to exploration and growth.”

If Rich is a bit of an evangelist for the art, it may be attributed to his own entry to the field. “I went to Dickinson State University on a track and cross-country scholarship,” he said. “I’d done some speech and debate stuff, a bit of acting, and even won a ‘Superior Actor’ award in a statewide competition. But it wasn’t until my senior year that Joe Legate (now a friend and colleague at FVCC) recruited me and I declared a theater major.”

Rich got an MFA degree from Humboldt State with dual emphasis in directing and scenic design and worked as a scenic designer for the Omaha Theater Company for a couple of years. But, among other things, it was the opportunity to teach and direct that brought him to FVCC. “Directing is probably my favorite part of theatre, but if you are the design professor and there are multiple directing/performance faculty at a larger school, it can be hard to get a slot.”

Talking to Rich, it’s easy to see that he loves what he does. “Put me together with two other people talking about their jobs, and 90% of the time they’ll find my job is the most interesting. Sometimes I’m a bit reluctant to admit that I get paid for doing it. It just gives me the opportunity to share with others what I believe is one of life’s greatest things.”

“I guess maybe one analogy to theater is golf,” he says, looking for a parallel. A low-90s golfer, he tries to spend at least part of his non-theatric time on the course. “It’s an exercise fraught with frustration and the occasional peak experience. Both are certainly an exploration of the human condition. That’s what it’s all about.”

Conflict, frustration, and thrill are essential components of theater and life. I’ve experienced them all in my work with community theater, my working career, which had nothing to do with theater, and most certainly with golf. Frustration and thrill anchor the human condition and add definition to life.

As Shakespeare noted, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” And we all play our roles, experiencing thrill and frustration as we make our way in life. The difference, when you have a career in theater, is that you have an audience

David Vale, when he’s not on stage, runs a restaurant in Bigfork. While occasionally believable in his role as a successful entrepreneur, his golf game remains firmly in the triple digits.