Acts in the life of Tom Frye, WSU performing arts alum
Performer, playwright, educator and two-time Shocker grad Tom Frye ’71/83 adds a new credit to his resume—author—with the release of his autobiography, “Stages: The Life & Times of a Kansas Actor.”
Although he had long planned to pen a memoir, he was deterred by his attention span, which he says is “like a gnat’s.” “I figured I’d write for two or three days before giving it up,” Frye says.
However, once he started writing “Stages,” he couldn’t stop. “I didn’t miss a day of writing in 16 months. During that time, I traveled and worked and spent time with many friends, but I always found time to write,” he says. “I still don’t know how, but somehow it happened.”
Though Frye’s background has featured big-time settings such as New York, New Orleans and Los Angeles, the performer remains partial to his hometown in the heartland. “Wichita is an enriching, artistic place and has always fostered incredible, standout talents,” he says. He worked with a few of those standout performers during his own days at Wichita State: Bill Johnson ’79, Marc Reeves ’79, Karla Burns ’81/16 and Jane Gabbert ’77, to name just a few.
“I received quite the education at Wichita State,” says Frye. “It was holistic and enlightening, and I got to learn from and alongside some of the best.”
Frye studied under several WSU College of Fine Arts greats, including Audrey Needles, Mary Jane Teall and Dick Welsbacher, eponym to the Welsbacher Black Box Theatre in the WSU Metropolitan Complex. Since graduating, he has received dozens of awards for acting, producing and directing. In 2001, he starred in “Tru,” a one-man show about the life of author and playwright Truman Capote, directed by its Oscar-nominated playwright Jay Presson Allen.
However, he remained connected to many mentors from his student days, whose direction he considers influential in his development as a performer and person.
He recalls a moment following a performance he considered one of his all-time bests during a show directed by Teall at Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center in Wichita. “I’m walking to the stage for notes after the show, and people are coming up to me saying what a great night I had, going on and on,” he says. “Mary Jane calls my name, and I perked up, excited to hear what she’s going to tell me. She says, ‘Tom, what was wrong with you tonight? I thought you just completely fell apart.’”
“Here I was expecting all this praise,” he says, adding with a laugh: “If she thought I deserved it, she would have given it. She was so honest, and I loved her for that.”
“Stages” is comprised of 86 vignettes from Frye’s personal and professional life, starting from the early days of his parents’ marriage. The author calls upon memories with a cast of colleagues, mentors and peers—a total figure he tallies in the thousands from his nearly 60 years as a performer and educator. “I’ve been very, very fortunate to have known, befriended and worked alongside so many amazing people,” he says.
And though Frye knows it is a reflection of his and many others’ legacies, mostly, he considers it a love story, one replete with the “many tales and lies” of his life.
“Stages” is available for purchase wherever books are sold, and you can hear more from the author at his book talk at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7 at Watermark Books & Café in Wichita.
