CHICAGO, ST. LOUIS AND LOS ANGELES THEATRE VETERAN DARRYL MAXIMILIAN ROBINSON EXTENDS A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL FROM AN ARTIST ACKNOWLEDGED FOR SPENDING TIME ON BAKER STREET!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ONE AND ALL!:
When an actor, a dancer, a musician, or a director, who has true talent and a urge, a need, a desire to try the greatest of challenges, the best time to attempt to do those things is towards the beginning of that artist's career.
Why? Because when an artist is YOUNG, they believe they are invincible. They believe so passionately in their skills and their craft ( particularly if they have been well-trained ), that they can rally their contemporaries and fellow artists to try the most difficult of works of drama, of dance, of music!
And EVEN WHEN THESE YOUNG ARTISTS FAIL, THERE ARE UNEXPECTED REWARDS. Including wisdom, experience and the knowledge that of any hint of an error or mistake should be rectified immediately, so that it can be corrected or removed long before a live audience hears it, sees it, or feels it in the future again.
And as one matures in one's craft, even with the limitations of low budgets or limited physical or technical resources, one masters the ability to create true art, real art with less, especially in an industry and a business where some people who have the power to hire and fire artists lack the imagination or vision to cast people of strong talent in roles due to racial stereotypes in The Theatre.
When this actor and director was young, he knew because he was a person of color, there was an array of limitations that could and would bar him from playing certain stage roles or directing classics he loved.
It simply was The Way of The Theatre at the time. It is The Way of The Theatre Today! RACISM IN THE THEATRE WAS AND IS REAL!
This artist, therefore, made the choice to go on a self-sustaining path. He, therefore, chose to live for a time in a place where Creative Art could be done at limited costs, and where there were far more talented performers ( mostly actors of color ) who wanted to practice their craft in Great Plays and Literary Works, but with very few theatres that would actually allow them to appear in The Classics.
After having some success in limited stage engagements in St. Louis, Missouri in the 1980s, this performer / director returned there in 1990, and for five years he lived and practiced acting and directing plays that black, asian and white actors normally would not be seen on stage together in. But they would and they did for him. He formed a multiracial, Non-Equity professional, chamber theatre, known as Excaliber Productions, Ltd.
And, during this period of the early 1990s, this artist assumed the role of the one legendary, classic character, most white or black people at that time were not accustomed in The Gateway City of seeing an African-American actor play ( no matter how classically-trained or talented ).
For three theatrical productions and stagings in the Greater St. Louis, Missouri Area, this artist appeared as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.
NOW...FLASH FORWARD 30 YEARS!
One of the more fun things about spending a Life in The Theatre is that you never know when someone out of the clear blue sky will remember a show you were in, or a role you played, or performance you gave that deserved some form of Special Recognition.
Having had the great joy of winning the 1981 Fort Wayne News-Sentinel Reviewer's Recognition Award as Outstanding Thespian of the Season for a gallery of roles at northern Indiana's Enchanted Hills Playhouse of Syracuse ( particularly as Fagin in Lionel Bart's classic musical "Oliver!" ), as a young professional stage actor, completely unexpectedly, it is always a pleasure to receive any public acknowledgment regarding one's work.
So, as this theatre artist, who seldom, if ever uses Twitter, as this old actor was going over old messages, notes, and comments regarding his work, he found one from a gent who is a SERIOUS DOCUMENTARIAN OF PERFORMERS WHO HAVE EVER PLAYED SHERLOCK HOLMES ON THE SILVER SCREEN, ON TELEVISION AND ON THE STAGE! His message read: Darryl Maximilian Robinson... I'm still looking for a photo, but you've made THE LIST! You will be in the next revision of "The A-Z List of Sherlock Holmes Performers". Welcome to the group #4,520 on the way to 5,000!
The message was timed and dated 12:20 am on December 29, 2018. Which was at Yuletide four years ago. But, I only saw it for the first time on December 24, 2022. And at this gent's UK website I found this opening panel: The A-Z of Sherlock Holmes Performers--Want to know how many Sherlock Holmes performers there have been to date*? Well, thanks to Howard Ostrom and No Place Like Holmes - you can! Just check them out in our handy alphabetized index guides.
AND IN THE ALPHABETICAL SEGMENT OF ROB-ROO ( Page 10 of 39 ):
This old stage actor found a couple of photos of himself ( though not dressed in costume as The Great Detective ) and a reference to his portrayal as Sherlock Holmes in "The Adventure of Black Peter," "An Evening With Sherlock Holmes" ( which was a combination of "Black Peter" for the first act and "The Adventure of The Dying Detective" for the second act ) and "Sherlock Holmes: The Final Problem!" ( the lethal battle with Professor Moriarty ). All performed from 1992-1994.
Which was absolutely true.
I had played The Great Detective at multiple venues in The Greater St. Louis Area, including The Midtown Arts Center of St. Louis, The Little Theatre of St. Louis University and The Miller's Daughter's Pub in St. Charles, Missouri. And going back and doing my own research, I found there were newspaper calendar listings and articles from this period to confirm it.
And, again checking Ostrom's listing, at the end of each of each entry was an ( S ). Which meant I had performed the role of Sherlock Holmes on the stage. It felt like this gent Mr. Ostrom had put me in an encyclopedia or something!
At first, I felt a little old. Then I felt pleased. And having someone go through all that trouble to let folks know I had indeed played Sherlock Holmes made me feel quite happy. So, though it's four years late: Thank you, Mr. Ostrom of the UK! AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!
P.S.: THE GAME...IS STILL AFOOT!
Darryl Maximilian Robinson is winner of a 1992 Harpooners of The Sea Unicorn Certificate of Honourary Membership Award ( from The Sherlock Holmes Society of St. Charles, Missouri ) for his performance in the title role and staging of the The Excaliber Productions, Ltd mounting of St. Louis playwright Chuck Lavazzi's adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes: The Final Problem!" presented at The Midtown Arts Center of St. Louis, Missouri.
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