Viewing page 9 of 39

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[double-line]]

THEATREGOER'S NOTEBOOK

[[image: black and white photograph of Courtney B. Vance]]
[[credit]] BOB FRAME [[/credit]]
[[caption]] Courtney B. Vance, con man extraordinaire [[/caption]]

you're a person of color."

Inspired by an uncle with a Harvard degree, Vance decided at age 11 that he wanted to go there, too, "but that didn't tell me what I wanted to do," he notes. "When I got there, everyone else seemed to know exactly what they wanted to do." By graduation he'd decided on acting and went on to earn an M.F.A. from Yale School of Drama. "My parents were highly distressed," he remembers. "When they came along, you didn't worry about having to settle for something, you just got a job. This has been a learning experience for all of us."

FATHER KNOWS BEST
Playing the perfect dad might sound dull, but Richard Venture does it with great style and warmth in the long-running Off-Broadway play The Sum of Us.  As the father and roommate of a gay son in suburban Melbourne, Australia, venture is a loving and supportive, if slightly smothering, presence in his son's life.

[[advertisement]]
[[marble-textured frame]]
[[Image: black and white image of three boxes, "Miss Saigon" and '21' on two of the three]]
MISS SAIGON - THE HIT THAT'S CLOSEST TO A LEGEND - '21'.

Just three blocks away. And perfectly positioned for a leisurely dinner before the show, an intimate late night supper after, or a theatre party in one of our private rooms.
[[black box with white text]] '21'
21 West 52nd Street, NY  212-582-7200 

A portion of all '21' sales to MISS SAIGON ticket holders will go to a special charity helping Amerasians.
[[/advertisement]] 

[[end page]]
[[start page]]

[[double-line]]

"I've studied a lot of Zen Buddhism, which emphasizes compassion for other human beings, and that's one of the things that attracted me to this play," says Venture, who has four grown children in real life and played the father of TV's Molly Dodd. "I don't know if I was always that understanding as a father, but I tried to be. Being an actor for so long sort of stretches and bends you. I think artists tend to have less rigid personalities and fewer prejudices."

In a 40-year career Venture has played everything from an ambassador (in the movie Missing) to a psychotic delivery man (in a play called The Man).  "There was a period in Hollywood when I played nothing but gangsters and killers," he recalls, "and at one point, a casting director actually called my agent and said, 'Can Dick play a nice guy?'" He laughs. "She said, 'Of course! He's an actor.'"

[[image - black & white photograph of Richard Venture and Neil Maffin on stage]]
[[credit]] CAROL ROSEGG/MARTHA SWOPE ASSOCIATES [[/credit]]
[[caption]] Richard Venture (l.) is Neil Maffin's compassionate father in The Sum of Us [[/caption]] 

Though delighted by his current success, Venture expresses few regrets that he has never become a "name" performer. "As a younger person, you're more ambitious and want the visibility, but when you get to be my age, you just want to enjoy the simple things," he says. "I never intend to drop out of acting, but I'd like to have time to travel and write, go on retreats, and raise dogs."

[[advertisement]]
[[image: two theater tickets, each showing a piece of luggage, with Samsonite and 5 stars printed at the top]]

10% DISCOUNT
on the best show in town
We have the largest selection of Samsonite in the tri-state area
Come in and ask for 10% OFF Samsonite
Toll Free
800-722-1800

INNOVATION LUGGAGE
World Trade Ctr.
212 432-9718

10 East 34th St.
212 684-8288

2nd Ave. at 42nd
212 599-8631

866 3rd Ave. at 52nd
212 832-1841
[[/advertisement]]