“ I do not have regrets”

Doyne Mraz’ Adventures in the World of Theatre

by Joni Johnson

  Doyne Mraz

You never know whom you are with until you get a chance to really talk with him.  Doyne’s life is extraordinary.

He says he is a practicing Existentialist, which he learned from Irving Yalom, a psychiatrist at Stanford.  Basically, one of the ideas is to not look back.  “If I make a mistake, then I learn from it and move on.  If I want to tackle something, I do it. Always going forward. This way, you can live your life with few regrets.”

Doyne-Mraz-   First-Audition

Doyne was an equity actor from the age of 6, working in Chicago,.  He did voice-overs for Disney, radio stories, and, in a USO routine, he worked with a young girl named Judy Gumm.  You might know her as Judy Garland. He said that his voice was high enough to keep him in childhood roles for a long time. Even when he was 16 years old, he could

Judy Gumm aka Judy Garland

still play little kids on radio shows. In fact, the money that he earned during his childhood adventures managed to keep his family from  suffering during the depression.

At the age of 10, his father brought home a copy of Tennessee Williams’ the Glass Menagerie.  And then, later that year, Doyne was able to see the same play in Chicago before it opened in New York. “The following summer, I went with my father to Key West, Florida.  My father drove past Tennessee Williams’ house and pointed it out.  I was brought up in a very strict way.  My family was from the “old country”- Czechoslovakia. I was taught never to speak to an adult unless they spoke to me.  But I wanted to tell Mr. Williams how much I loved his play.  My father said No or I would get whipped.  But I went anyway.  No regrets. I knocked on the door, and miraculously Williams came to the door.  ‘Wadya want, lil boy?’ When I told him how much I loved the play and how the quality of the writing was the finest I had seen, he welcomed me in and introduced me to his two guests. One of them was a woman sitting at a typewriter.  She was Carson McCullers.

Tennessee Williams

“Williams brought me a martini – I was just 11. But that was when I became an Existentialist.  If I was going to get beaten, I didn’t care.  It was at that point that I started to collect Tennessee Williams first editions. And I had a signed first edition of every one of his plays until his death.  Tennessee continued to play a role in my life for a long time.”

The day after the rationing of gasoline was lifted because of WWII, Doyne’s father took the whole family from Chicago to Sacramento, where Doyne’s mother’s sister lived.  Doyne graduated from high school early and left home at 16 to escape his strict upbringing.  He went to New York and began studying acting at  the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Acting run by Sanford Meisner.  “He changed my life.  He helped me move from ‘loving theatre’ to ‘becoming theatre.’”

During that time, while in a play on Broadway, Doyne also worked for a costumer in another production.  He was offered a chance to costume Charles Laughton in a play called Galileo. Doyne was a fitter and a cutter for Laughton, whom he describes as sweet, kind and lovely.

He eventually found his way back to Sacramento where, while going to Sac City College, he  directed several productions including some operas.  This was at the early age of 18. During one of these opera productions, he met the love of his life, Corinne.  He said that when he heard her sing, he was caught.  Doyne and Corinne have been married for 67 years and have 2 children.  Then he was off to UOP in Stockton.  While at UOP, besides getting a masters in Theatre, he got a masters in Speech Therapy to satisfy his parents. Many of us can relate to that!

Finally, he went to Stanford for a Ph.D. in Theatre. Having kept in touch with Tennessee Williams, his dissertation was on Williams. And then during this period, he also went to USC for a Masters in Film. While at USC, he directed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams. Williams came to see it.

During his time at Stanford, he was asked to become the Dean of Performing Arts by Foothill College.  He started his summer theatre program – The “SummerReperatory”.  A few years later, Doyne was called by Tennessee Williams to be the dramaturge for Streetcar Named Desire in Los Angeles. It turned out that Doyne had the only original script of the play. The actors included Jon Voight and Faye Dunaway.

Jon Voight and Faye Dunaway in Streetcar

So, after going back to Stanford, getting his degree, creating the Theatre Program at Foothill, he still felt that there was more to do.  He was with Foothill for 30 years. And during that time is when he began the theatre company in Los Altos called the Los Altos Conservatory Theatre (L’ACT).  It began in a bus barn, but the barn needed tremendous repair.  So he got all the actors from Foothill and other people in Los Altos to help rebuild and refit it as a theatre.  Seats were donated.  Carpenters donated their time.  It was a makeshift affair at the beginning. In 1970 they offered 14 shows (10 in the barn). They’d rehearse for 5 weeks and show for 5 weeks. He also directed operas for West Bay Opera.

Doyne Celebrating opening of L’ACT

Doyne in rehersal at L’ACT

While he was at L’ACT, he was asked again by Tennessee Williams to direct The Two Character Play in San Francisco before it went to Broadway with a different director. “Throughout our long relationship, he always called me, ‘lil boy’ just like he addressed me the first time we met at his front door in Key West. So we had our last drink together – this time, Southern Comfort out of a flask from his back pocket.”

Often during the 20 years at L’ACT, Doyne came up to Ashland once a month to design the costumes and sets for his Los Altos shows. Finally, in 1992, after  he left L’ACT, he retired and moved to Ashland, directing locally.  He and Corinne moved to RVM in 1998. Their house was the first house built on Quail Point Circle. Gini Armstrong lives there now. And after 20 years they moved to the Plaza. Now he is thinking of getting into painting.  I told him he should write a book!