P.O. Box 691 Sebring Florida USA 33871 Tel: 863-382-2525
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P.O. Box 691 Sebring Florida USA 33871 Tel: 863-382-2525 |
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Robert Austin - Doing What Comes Naturally By: Roy Riedy |
Bob Austin was first seen on the Lakeside Playhouse stage as Frank Butler in Frank Oberhausen's reprise of Irving Berlin's song filled musical Annie Get Your Gun in January, 2000, HLT's second play of its Twenty-sixth Season. The part and his voice won him a nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Fifteenth Annual Zenon Awards in October of that millennium year.
The next season Mr. Austin appeared in Jim McCollum's rambunctious musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas as Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd, a part made famous by Burt Reynolds in the 1982 movie . Once again at Zenon time, Bob was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for keeping the peace in our largest state in the lower forty-eight.
In the Twenty-eighth Season Bob was involved with two plays: he played Sky Masterson in Frank Oberhausen and Kathy MacNeill's production of Frank Loesser's Runyunesque musical Guys and Dolls; and was a member of the Stage Crew for Peter Pollard's play with songs, Foxfire. Once again Bob received a nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the end of the season Zenon Ceremonies for his portrayal of the melodic gambler, Sky Masterson.
The Twenty-ninth Season at Highlands Little Theatre opened with another musical by the Frank Oberhausen and Kathy MacNeill directing team, a revival of Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion's Broadway hit, Man of La Mancha with Mr. Austin singing the role of Don Quixote. The play was a sensation and broke all records in collecting Zenons as a testimonial to its popularity, including a well deserved Best Actor in a Leading Role for Bob Austin.
Mr. Austin is no stranger to the stage, his career spans some thirty years and is quite diverse. Other state credits include Lenny in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Oberon in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Curly in Rogers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!. Bob lives in Sebring with his wife Susan and daughter Jenny and works with the nursing staff at Good Shepherd Hospice.
Since Mr. Austin has joined the Highlands Little Theatre he has been involved in five of its plays, been nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role four times and won a Zenon Award in that category at the Eighteenth Zenon Awards in October 2003. His name has been mentioned in nine HLT Newsletters, and in thirty-five local news articles for a total of fifty-three citations. He is living proof to any aspiring actor or actress that there is no such thing as an "Impossible Dream".
