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This is an occasional column about local people in the arts community.

 

GREENSBORO -- There's no doubt that local stages breed talent. We catch up with a few Triad natives who have appeared on them and where they are now: on tour, on Broadway and on DVD.

On the road

Last week, Greensboro native Horace V. Rogers rode a tour bus from Detroit to Dayton, Ohio.

It's the next stop on the national tour of the Oprah Winfrey-produced hit Broadway musical "The Color Purple."

Rogers has acted in the show since August, playing the character Grady, understudying the male lead Mister and singing in the ensemble.

Yes, the road is tiring. Cast members go from bus to airport to plane to hotel to stage, coping with changing climates as they go from city to city.

"But it's just a blessing to have a job and in a show as uplifting and inspiring," Rogers says, the bus motor purring in the background. "To watch people react and respond -- that is the upside."

Rogers, 46 and a graduate of N.C. A&T, spent two years playing Mufasa in the Toronto production of "The Lion King." He also acted in the original Broadway cast of "Brooklyn."

Touring isn't new to him. A decade ago, he toured with the musical "Rent" for more than two years. Now, he performs in some of the same venues.

"It's kind of fun to see where I have been," he says.

Next month, Rogers comes home to North Carolina.

"The Color Purple" plays May 12-17 at the Durham Performing Arts Center and May 19-24 at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte.

In August, Rogers will take time off to attend the biennial National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem. In 20 years, he hasn't missed one yet.

On Broadway

Greensboro native David Furr is back on Broadway.

He appears in "Accent on Youth" in a cast that stars David Hyde Pierce (Niles of TV's "Frazier"). The comedy has been in previews and opens Wednesday in the Samuel T. Friedman Theatre.

Furr has acted on stage and screen with other big names.

He stepped onto a Broadway stage in 2005 to play opposite Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" In 2007, the play went on national tour.

That same year, Furr appeared in the movie "Evening," with a cast that included Meryl Streep and Glenn Close.

More recently, Furr has been on the small screen: in a 2008 episode of "CSI: Miami" and this year in the soap "All My Children."

On the small screen

If you missed it in theaters, "Dog Days of Summer" is out on DVD, and viewers will spot a local actor in the cast.

R. Keith Harris, a Reidsville native who lives in Greensboro, plays Pastor Salem in the drama filmed in Edenton in 2005. It was directed by Mark Freiburger, then fresh out of film school at the UNC School of the Arts.

Harris calls it "kind of a Garden of Eden story," in which a stranger arrives in an idyllic Southern town and reveals its sins by re-creating it in a miniature model.

"Dog Days" is Harris' latest film and TV appearance.

On the movie screen, he played Ewan McGregor's father in "Big Fish," starred in the romantic comedy "Chicks 101," portrayed a young pastor in "Junebug" and had roles in "The List" and "Lost Stallions: The Journey Home."

His TV appearances include "Dawson's Creek" and "One Tree Hill."

These days, Harris teaches theater at High Point University and auditions for TV series and films shooting in Georgia. He also has written a screenplay.

Look for him again in two upcoming films shot in the Triad: "Wesley," a biopic on the founders of the Methodist Church, and "The Fifth Quarter" with Aidan Quinn and Andie MacDowell.

 

Contact Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5204 or dawn.kane@news-record.com

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