Enter Stage Right
Roger got his first laugh in grade school as one of the boys Tom Sawyer convinced to vie for the “honor” of painting Aunt Sally’s fence. Instead of, “I’ll trade you this rat with a string tied to it’s tail,” he blurted out, “I’ll trade you this string with a rat tied to it’s tail.” Mesmerized by the unexpected laughter, he proceeded to walk straight into the grand drape when exiting, earning him yet another round of guffaws. Thus began a life-long love of the theatre.
His formal theatrical training began in the drama department of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, continued at Michigan State University and concluded at Columbia College Chicago, where he did graduate work in film and television production. He has appeared in dinner theater and mainstage productions, directed over forty classic musicals and plays, and voiced numerous film narrations and training modules.
While based in Chicago, he produced and directed a wide variety of award-winning films and videos, including PSAs, documentaries, and television commercials. Many of his programs featured well-known figures from the world of government, business and entertainment.
He has conducted hundreds of on-camera interviews with people from all walks of life, among them: the survivors of prescription drug addiction, the children of war torn Belfast, Illinois Governor Jim Thompson, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner, Ambassador Clayton Yuetter, Sculptor Richard Hunt, and Animal Ethicist Dr. Peter Singer.
“Roger brings the artistry of the director to create masterful, priceless portraits. No one does it better!” Cherie Carter Scott, Author of “If Life is a Game, These Are the Rules”
Roger wrote the libretto and produced the developmental workshop production for the musical “After Happily Ever After” Off-Broadway at The Players Theatre. He wrote music, book and lyrics for “Lights Out!” produced at the Barn Dinner Theatre in Richmond Virginia, wrote book and lyrics for “Vagabond Kings,” Theatre Building Chicago, and “The Piper,” currently in development. He is also involved with the Broadway productions of “The Neil Diamond Musical: A Beautiful Noise,” Barry Manilow’s “Harmony,” “The Griswold’s Broadway Vacation,” and “JOY.” Recently, his Audiobook of Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poems, “Stuff and Nonsense,” became available worldwide on multiple audiobook platforms including Chirp, Google Play, Kobo, NOOK Audiobooks, Storytel and Spotify.
An unabashed romantic, Roger lives in the woods with his wife and two dogs, enjoying regular visits from fox and deer, owl and hawk, woodchuck and prairie wolf.