James 'Dusty' Priebe: The Talent Behind the Talent

APT's Founders' Day, July 18, passed by without much fanfare this year. The date landed on a Monday, the traditional day of rest for our artists and staff during the busy season, so many of us observed it quietly. On this Founders Day, I caught myself thinking a lot about Dusty Priebe who passed away on November 2, 2015. Though James "Dusty" Priebe never stood on the APT stage himself, this place owes a lot to his keen intelligence, his fundraising acumen, and his connections all over the world.

One of the best parts of my job is to meet the many people who had a hand in creating APT. I never had the privilege to meet Dusty; his final years were spent mostly in Hawaii. But to learn more about him I had the pleasure of spending a morning in the company of his close friends Bob and Patty Wood, who also happen to be longtime friends of APT. The Woods are the sort of friends who also worked intensely during the lean days of APT in service to what, at times, must have seemed an impossible dream.

Dusty and Bob became friends while working at a summer camp in Minocqua, WI. Years later, on the whim, Bob tried to track down Dusty to find out what had become of him. When the two connected, Dusty announced that he was moving back to Wisconsin to start a theatre company in the middle of the countryside with some friends. Bob and Patty, who happened to live in Madison, opened their home to Dusty. In December of 1978 he showed up, moved in, and got right to work.

Through projects and positions in Hawaii and at the Kennedy Center, Dusty had worked closely with Randall Duk Kim, Anne Occhiogrosso, and Charles Bright as they formulated their vision of a classical theatre company situated far from the pressures of the city. "People thought it was a nutty idea," Patty recalls. Nevertheless, Randy, Annie, Chuck and Steven Helmeke landed in Madison and promptly became friends with the Woods as well. American Players Theatre took off from there. Dusty was an effective fundraiser and had a knack for hiring people. One of his first projects was to produce Randy's one man show at the Gard, Spring Green's downtown theatre. But before the theatre on the Hill opened in July of 1980, Dusty was on to the next adventure at Playwrights Horizons in New York City.

Dusty's talent for finding talent came in handy for APT again, over 10 years later, when the original founders announced their resignations. The Board called on Dusty to help find a new Artistic Director. That new Artistic Director, now Producing Director Emeritus David Frank, recalls "Dusty was my very first contact with APT - a call from out of the blue asking (somewhat disingenuously) if I knew anyone who might be interested in the APT job. My interest was immediate but not, I think, surprising to him." David had been a finalist for the Artistic Director position at Oregon Shakespeare Festival months before. Dusty's idea to look at those extraordinary candidates from OSF's search, identify an exceptional one, and lure him to Spring Green was a master stroke.

APT was just a small piece of Dusty's eventful time on this earth. He also taught middle school, worked as a print model ("ramp model only once as a favor to Bill Blass" he recalled), produced Broadway shows, traveled the world, and spent his last years in Hawaii. When he became too ill to travel, he paid attention to APT from afar, ready to step in again if the place needed him.

Thank you Dusty, for helping to light the fire and rekindle the flame when APT needed it the most. You will be missed.

James F. Priebe, 1938-2015

Dusty Priebe & Bob Wood