Darryl Maximilian Robinson Notes 50th Anniversary As A Stage Performer With 'The Actor's Choice'

 

Last month marked a special achievement for experienced and Chicago stage-trained theatre artist Darryl Maximilian Robinson, Founder, Artistic Director and Producer of the multiracial Excaliber Productions, Ltd. of St. Louis and the multiracial chamber theater known as The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago.

 

 

50 years ago, on December 21, 1973, a skinny, apprehensive, stage-frightened, 13-year-old, African-American kid walked upon a makeshift stage in the gym at a now nonexistent middle school, the West Side of Chicago's Robert H. Lawrence Upper Grade Center, to play the role of Mr. Jones in that Chicago Public Schools facility's holiday play for students and staff entitled "A Black Christmas Carol." By the end of the second school day performance of that work ( after receiving ample laughs and applause ), the kid knew, above all else, he wanted to be an actor, a professional actor in The Theatre, and he would do all that would be required of him as a Student of The Performing Arts to achieve that goal.

 

 

During his high school years, ( as a Student Performer at Albert G. Lane Technical High School and Whitney M. Young Magnet High School for The Performing Arts, and as A Guest Student Actor Performer at Josephinum High School for Girls ) he would go on to perform many roles and receive educational training at many facilities.

 

 

 

 

He would happily work with numerous professional arts educators, who were also working professionals in The Windy City's entertainment industry, including four years ( 1975-1979 ) giving public performances and receiving quality musical theatre training with The Chicagoland High School Theatrical Troupe.

 

 

And by 1980, he was a working, paid for his craft, stage performer. His 1980s stage credits would include roles with The National Shakespeare Company Tour of New York, The Indianapolis Shakespeare Festival, The King Richard's Faire and Bristol Renaissance Faire of Kenosha, Wisconsin, The University Players of The University of Missouri-St. Louis - UMSL ( where in 1984 under the skilled direction of veteran Gateway City  actor John Grassilli he  became the first African-American actor ever to play the leading role of Sir Thomas More in a revival of Robert Bolt's play "A Man For All Seasons" at The Benton Hall Theater ), The Theatre Project Company of St. Louis ( where in 1984 under the direction of Deborah Lynn Wickes he earned rave reviews - including one from noted Critic-At-Large, the late Joe Pollack of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch - for his performance as The Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz" ) and St. Louis' historic Goldenrod Showboat docked at Laclede's Landing ( where in 1987 under the fine guidance of then Owner/Producer/Director/Adaptor and well-known St. Louis tv news personality John Auble, he starred for 10 weeks as the villainous Professor Moriarty in a vaudeville musical rendition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes" ).

 

 

Ten years after his first appearance on the stage, he was honored to play The City of Chicago's Historic Founder. For a time, in 1983 ( just two years after winning the 1981 Fort Wayne News-Sentinel Reviewer's Recognition Award for Outstanding Thespian of the Season for a gallery of his stage roles, particularly for the part of Fagin in a revival of Lionel Bart's classic musical "Oliver!" at Enchanted Hills Playhouse of Syracuse, Indiana ), for the highly-regarded Urban Gateways arts and educational organization, Chicago-born and stage-trained actor and play director Darryl Maximilian Robinson, toured to numerous public and private schools throughout the greater Chicagoland area playing the Caribbean Island-born, African-American, French and English speaking Frontiersman and Founder of The City of Chicago, Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable ( 1745-1818 ), in local playwright Alice Rubio's highly-effective, one-act historical drama "Chicago: A Tale of One City."

 

 

In 1990, Darryl Maximilian Robinson returned to The Gateway City and brought his multiracial chamber theater, Excaliber Productions Ltd. to St. Louis for a five-year residency, presenting well-received multicultural cast productions of such works as a staging of "A Child's Christmas In Wales And More Tales" by Dylan Thomas, "Waiting For Godot" by Samuel Beckett, "The Lion In Winter" by James Goldman ( in which he became the first African-American actor to play the leading role of King Henry II ), "Long Day's Journey Into Night" by Eugene O'Neill, "Don Juan In Hell" by George Bernard Shaw, "Master Harold And The Boys" by Athol Fugard, a musical version of Noel Coward's "Private Lives," a mounting of "The Raven And Six Other Points of Interest" by Edgar Allan Poe, his critically-praised, original one-man show of Shakespeare and time-travel comedy "A Bit of the Bard," the world premieres of the plays "Fire And Brimstone" and "A Man of Experience" both by St. Louis dramatist Robert Friedman, multiple stagings of his adaptation of "Sounds And Scenes" by Shakespeare, the Bard's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and "An Evening With Sherlock Holmes" ( featuring "The Adventure of Black Peter" and "The Adventure of The Dying Detective" ) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all presented at such venues as The Utopian Loft Theatre and Gallery, The Historic Old Post Office of Downtown St. Louis, The Midtown Arts Center, The Historic Second Presbyterian Church of The Central West End, The St. Marcus Theatre of Soulard, The Little Theatre of St. Louis University, The Focal Point of Webster Groves, The Red Sea Restaurant of University City, The Miller's Daughter's Pub of St. Charles, Missouri, Cummel's Cafe Studio Theatre of Downtown St. Louis and the much-missed Wabash Triangle Cafe.

 

 

 

In 1992, Darryl Maximilian Robinson received a Certificate of Honourary Membership Award from The Harpooners of the Sea Unicorn ( The Sherlock Holmes Society of St. Charles, Missouri ) for his staging and performance in the title role of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes: The Final Problem!" in an adaptation by KDHX radio personality Chuck Lavazzi which was staged at The Midtown Arts Center and which subsequently toured to numerous venues, including public schools in The Greater St. Louis area.

 

 

In December of 1994, Darryl Maximilian Robinson would bring his renamed multiracial chamber theatre, The Excaliber Shakespeare Company, to his hometown of Chicago, and for seven years, from 1995 through 2001, produce, adapt, direct and perform in numerous multicultural cast renditions of The Classics, winning multiple awards including a 1998 WKKC Radio Chicago Critic's Corner Fine Arts Award for Outstanding Director of A Play for his 1997 revival of Beckett's "Waiting For Godot" at The Heartland Cafe Studio Theatre of Rogers Park ( in which he appeared in the role of Vladimir ) and four Chicago Black Theatre Alliance  / Ira Aldridge Award nominations including a 1999 BTAA nomination for Best Direction of An Ensemble for Athol Fugard's "The Blood Knot"  ( also staged at The Heartland in which he appeared in the role of Zachariah opposite talented young actor Jonathan Pereira as Morris both onstage and in a May 1999 Chicago Cable Access Television version on Channel 19 ) and a 2001 BTAA nomination for Best Direction of A Theatrical Production for his revival staging of Le Roi Jones' ( Amiri Baraka's ) "The Dutchman" staged at The Harrison Street Galleries Studio Theatre of Oak Park, Illinois. Darryl Maximilian Robinson is also noted for directing and starring as Andrew Wyke opposite talented young actor Sean Nix as Milo Tindle in the first-ever, all African-American cast revival of Anthony Shaffer's Tony Award-winning Best Play "Sleuth" ( also staged at The Harrison Street Galleries Studio Theatre of Oak Park, Illinois in 2000 ).

 

 

On the occasion of his 50th Anniversary as An American Stage Performer, Darryl Maximilian Robinson ( winner of both a 1997 Chicago Joseph Jefferson Citation Award for Outstanding Actor In A Principal Role In A Play and a 1997 Chicago Black Theatre Alliance / Ira Aldridge Award nomination for Best Leading Actor In A Play for his critically-praised performance as Sam Semela in The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago staging of Athol Fugard's "Master Harold And The Boys" at The Heartland Cafe Studio Theatre of Rogers Park as well as a 2019 Broadwayworld Chicago Award nomination for Best Performer In A Musical or Revue for his portrayal of the dual roles of The Chairman Mr. William Cartwright and Mayor Thomas Sapsea in the 2018 Saint Sebastian Players of Chicago revival of Rupert Holmes' Tony Award-winning Best Musical Whodunit "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" at The Windy City's more than a century old St. Bonaventure Church of Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood ) provides an appearance on a tv show where he discusses a few of his most early Chicago And St. Louis Stage Roots and several of his recent Los Angeles Stage Roles ( where he has performed for more than a decade  ) during the September 19, 2016 edition of veteran entertainment journalist and reporter Ron Brewington's internet performing arts television show "The Actor's Choice" Episode 2.37. This program is available for viewing at YouTube.

 

 

After an intriguing interview with Guest Actor John Ruskin, Founder of The Ruskin School of Acting in Santa Monica, California, Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago Founder Darryl Maximilian Robinson talks of his training and experiences during the second half-hour of this informational program with Host Ron Brewington.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most recently, Darryl Maximilian Robinson was named a winner of a 2022 Making The World Happening Award from Allevents.in for his numerous online theatre-related offerings during the early years of The Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Happy New Year And Enjoy.