Shakespeare Shapes the Life of David Blixt

David Blixt (right) demonstrates the art of stage combat during a recent visit to campus.

WOOSTER, Ohio - Just about every meaningful thing in David Blixt's life can be traced to Shakespeare. The actor, writer, director, and teacher discovered his calling in life and met the woman who would become his wife through his passion for the iconic English poet and playwright.

Ironically, his first exposure to the Bard was anything but positive. "I used to hate Shakespeare, if you can believe that," said Blixt, a former Wooster student who returned to campus earlier this fall to share his life story and offer some advice for theatre majors. "I was forced to read Julius Caesar in seventh grade, and I thought it was awful, but in my senior year of high school when I had a choice between acting and reading Shakespeare, everything changed. I realized that his works were meant to be performed, not just read."

Blixt planned to pursue his newfound admiration for Shakespeare in college, and he quickly narrowed his search from seven schools to one after receiving special attention from one of Wooster's admissions counselors. "I had auditioned for Annetta Jefferson and Ray McCall, and then I received this letter that really expressed a genuine interest in the application essay I had written," said Blixt. "The day the letter arrived, I was notified of my acceptance to Wittenberg, but I decided to go to Wooster, in large part because of that letter."

Once on campus, Blixt wasted no time finding his way to Freedlander Theatre. He appeared in four productions - "The 1940s Radio Hour," "Life Under Water," "The Boys Next Door," and "Our Town" - in his first year, but his stay at Wooster would be short-lived. Tough economic times forced his parents to close their advertising agency and forced him to move back home, where he enrolled at Eastern Michigan University. Despite spending just one year (1991-92) at Wooster, however, Blixt was able to make the most of his experience.

"I learned a lot about writing, particularly from (former Professor of English) Ray McCall, who really pushed me," said Blixt. "I also spent a lot of time in the theatre, and I made some lifelong friends in the process."

Since leaving Wooster, Blixt has enjoyed success in a variety of areas. He and his wife, Jan, run a theatre company in Chicago, called "A Crew of Patches," from a line in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which means "a Bunch of Fools." The company has done six Shakespearean plays in rep and has also produced a parody of Shakespeare.

In addition to the theatre company, Blixt continues to act and write. He has played Macbeth a dozen times, most recently at the Michigan Shakespeare Festival (where he first met his wife), and has just published his first novel, The Master of Verona, a back story to Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. In his "spare" time, Blixt has been working on several television pilots, including one for a 1930s comedy.

One of Blixt's signature skills is as a stage combatant, which he describes as the art of looking incredibly violent while taking careful steps to be exceptionally safe. "It's all in the choreography," he says. "Shakespeare's dance masters were also fight masters."

Blixt has been doing stage combat for 10 years. He even conducts stage combat workshops, and presented one during his visit to Wooster. "I do a lot of these types of scenes," he says, "but I'm trying hard not to be typecast in violent roles. I prefer to be an actor who fights instead of a 'fight guy.'"

Blixt conceded that the hardest part about being an actor is making a living, and so he advised the students at Wooster to be versatile. "Develop a skill set, but don't let it limit you," he said. "And be sure that Shakespeare is one of your skill sets. It's something that every actor needs."