Backstage at APT

30 questions for 30 seasons, core company actor Paul Bentzen gives us the lowdown on three decades at APT.

APT: Over the past 30 years, which show has been your favorite?

Paul Bentzen: The classic answer: the one I'm doing now. In this case Heroes.

APT: Do you have a specific pre-performance ritual?

PB: No, I like to get to them a bit early.

APT: What can we find you doing during your free time?

PB: Fly fishing, cooking, pickin' bluegrass with friends. Lately I've been wintering in NYC where I recharge my cultural batteries.

APT: If you were stranded on an island, what would be the one thing you took along?

PB: A good boat.

APT: What is your fondest memory of APT?

PB: On stage: Singing Wind and Rain as Feste, in actual wind and rain.

Off stage, showing up at rehearsal with a five-foot bull snake wrapped around my arm, and bleeding where it bit me. Awesome!

APT:  What are your top three movies?

PB: Crazy Heart, Fanny and Alexander, The Pawn Broker

APT: What's your most embarrassing APT moment?

PB: When I unintentionally accused Randy Kim of ranting and raving.

APT: Any pets?

PB: Not anymore. RIP Wally and Darwin.

APT: What is an indulgence for you?

PB: Pigging out at the Dorf Haus's Bavarian Smorgasbord.

APT: Do you get nervous before a show?

PB:  I'd call it excited anticipation.

APT: What's your favorite season?

PB: Spring and Fall, a tie.

APT: How is acting at APT different from other venues?

PB: You have to be able to speak and inhale bugs at the same time.

APT: What was your childhood ambition?

PB:  To be a zoologist.

APT: What was the last thing you purchased?

PB: Shampoo and conditioner.

APT:  Sweet or salty?

PB:  A bit of both is nice.

APT:  What are three words that describe your life?

PB: Charmed. Lucky. Quirky.

APT:  What is the best part of performing outdoors, up the hill?

PB: Seeing the stars when the lights go to black.

APT: What's your favorite possession?

PB: My sense of humor.

APT: As an experienced banjo player, what's your favorite serenade?

PB:  Banjo players don't serenade. You'll get a shoe thrown at you...or worse!

APT: What book do you suggest we all go out and read?

PB: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.

APT: What show has had the largest influence on you personally?

PB: Cherry Orchard all because of one scene between me as Firs and Tracy Arnold as Charlotte.

APT: APT has put you in some crazy costumes. Which is your favorite?

PB:  Budd Hill's design for Angelo in The Comedy of Errors would be right up there. I also seem to recall having huge wings for Time in Winter's Tale. One night one broke and I flounced about like a ruptured chicken. Am I imagining that?

APT: Do you prefer having a mustache or going without?

PB: Without (for now).

APT: Where's your favorite place to eat?

PB: My backyard patio.

APT: It's Saturday Night. What's your drink of choice?

PB: Beer mostly. In summer I've been gravitating back to American lagers like Leinies. In winter, Guinness.

APT: What's your dream role?

PB: I'd like to do a really good role (doesn't have to be big) in a really good Indy film with a really good director.

APT: What would the title of your autobiography be?

PB: I Came, I Saw, I Stayed for Thirty @#$%@#$ Years!

APT: What's your proudest accomplishment at APT?

PB: Actually making a living doing what I love. I wish everyone could be so lucky.

APT: What's your favorite album/band?

PB: Impossible to say - so many. How about Gordon Lightfoot's very first album for United Artists. Also JD Crowe and the New South, Old Home Place.

APT: Did you ever think you'd spend thirty years at APT?

PB: When I first saw the outdoor stage and met Randy and Annie I knew that it was destiny that I would work there. Thirty years?? That's crazy!!