Alumni Interview: Tim Browning
Who: Tim Browning
Years at Weathervane: 2008 – current
Position: Actor, Director
In 2006, I returned to my Central Ohio home from New York City to accept a great job at C-TEC as the Theater Arts Director. C-TEC occupies the building next door to Weathervane Playhouse, but the program itself was housed at Granville High School. It occurred to me that a relationship between my program and this theatre could be interesting, but I put the idea on the back burner while I became acclimated to the culture of my new district and new home. Three, maybe four years down the road, we’d have a conversation about some sort of internship or residency program. Matthew Trombetta had other plans, though.
I’m still not sure how he knew who I was or where to find me, but one day in the middle of class, this delightful human, accompanied by a soft-spoken sidekick (now a true force of nature) carrying about ten vocal books strode into my class, introduced himself and Erika Twining and announced that we’d be working together on several levels. First, I was going to be involved artistically, like THIS summer and that next year, we would be finding a way to create a partnership between C-TEC’s Theater Arts program and Weathervane Playhouse.
I have to be honest here. I was a bit skeptical about what I thought the ‘Vane could offer my students and me. I know very little about this theatre in a barn located in the second biggest Newark in the US. After class, Matthew asked if there was a practice room available in the school. We found one and sang a bit. He told me I’d be playing Bullfrog in Honk and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
The following year, we decided to co-produce The Laramie Project. It would happen in the dead of winter in the small theater before it was, well, a theater. It was basically a barn. Matthew, Erica, Brice Corder and I rented a couple generators and heaters and got to work. We worked our frozen fingers to the bone not only building a set, but creating a theater space from scratch. At the time, the piece was considered controversial at the high school level, and it felt much safer having these three in my corner. The result was a stunning, life-altering experience for the four of us, the audiences, and most importantly our young artists. It’s hard to imagine a more rewarding process for an aspiring theater practitioner – the combination of the material and the dedication and cohesiveness of the team was an experience I and my (now grown) students still treasure.
I’ve worked on a dozen or so productions at Weathervane as both an actor and a director (and briefly as the world’s worst board member) and cherished each one. In a very real sense, Weathervane has been a theater home away from home. I’ve worked with some beautiful artists, created lifelong friendships, and been involved in lots of rewarding projects. I’ve fallen in love, cried over the deaths of dear friends, and gotten ridiculously drunk with friends old and new. I’ve seen kids who I’ve directed go on to do great things on Broadway, film and TV. My daughter Ruby doesn’t remember a time Weathervane was not part of her life. The board goes out of its way to treat artists like family, ensuring that the young performers and technicians are challenged and simultaneously primed for success. Every year, they strike that tricky balance between pleasing the decades-long subscribers and stimulating young audiences. They have been rewarded with an enthusiastic audience base, a sterling reputation, and a supportive community. Weathervane Playhouse remains the crown jewel of Licking County!
Currently, Tim is the director of Eastland Fairfield Career & Technical Schools’ theater arts program. Favorite credits include: The Civil War, with Linda Eder, Alley Theatre, Twelfth Night, dir. Michael Pennington, Chicago Shakespeare, Drift by Jeremy Schonfeld, Merkin, Twelfth Night at Jean Cocteau. His portrayal of Richard Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross earned him the Critic’s Choices Best Actor Award, Best Performance of 2010 award from The Other Paper and runner-up for The Central Ohio Theater Critic’s Circle Award. He also portrayed MIchael Novak in God of Carnage, King Arthur in Spamalot, Macbeth in Macbeth, John Silver in Treasure Island and Shrek in Shrek, the Musical. Tim’s favorite directorial credits include The Whipping Man (Theater Roundtable Best Production 2013), A Flea in her Ear, The Odd Couple (Weathervane Playhouse) Twelfth Night, Underneath the Lintel, Scapin (NPT), Still Life With Iris, Gallathea and Run for Your Wife and Alexander’s House (Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus). Tim spent the last year training with the Royal Shakespeare Company and The Ohio State University, learning how to train American students using RSC rehearsal methods, and increasing the presence of Shakespeare’s work in American classrooms. Tim is the proud father of the world’s most wonderful person, Ruby Grace Browning.