Springfield Little Theatre’s 90^th EMERALD ANNIVERSARY SEASON has been one of the busiest for educator Mark Gideon. He already landed leading roles in two back-to-back productions and is now in rehearsals as the director of EXIT LAUGHING.

“For me, personally, to go from the Wizard in WIZARD OF OZ to Scrooge in A CHRISTMAS CAROL, that was a big ‘ol deal because I usually do not do that,” Gideon explained. “I do one production, and I disappear, and you don’t see me for several months, but these are two parts that I wanted to really do, and I went for it.”

Even for seasoned performers, no role is ever guaranteed. Gideon wanted to stand out in auditions for the musical version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, so he threw himself into preparations and showed up ready to claim the part.

“I worked on my audition song six weeks in advance,” he recalled. “My audition for [director] Chyrel [Love Miller] went exactly how I wanted it to go, and so did the cold read on the callbacks.”

He nailed the audition and booked the part, which is both mentally and physically demanding. Scrooge in on stage nearly the entire production, and he even had to wear a harness to fly during a musical number.

Gideon is now in rehearsals for the comedy EXIT LAUGHING, which made its world premiere at SLT in 2013. Every show has its own challenges, but external forces have been threatening to derail the preparations. When snow and extreme cold shut down many establishments in February, Gideon gathered the cast on Zoom to keep working.

“Actually, the Zoom rehearsals have been really good,” he shared. “Everyone shuts off their screen so there’s nothing to look at, which forces them to listen to the dialogue. Here’s the big secret of the theater – your cue is hidden in the dialogue before you speak. All you have to do is listen to that dialogue and your cue will come unto you. So, we have screens off and they’re listening, so it has really forced them not to rely on visual cues or rely on blocking. They really have to know the words.”

EXIT LAUGHING rehearsals have now moved on to the stage, and the cast is starting to become familiar with their props. Now that they are off book, they can become more comfortable with blocking.

“This show is pretty prop heavy, and I want the tempo to move because it is a comedy. This isn’t the MERCHANT OF VENICE, so we have to move,” Gideon laughed.

As a performer, Gideon is perhaps best known by local audiences for his performing partnership with executive director Beth Domann in bringing the GREATER TUNA series to the stage. The four plays are set in fictional Tuna, Texas and require countless quick changes as two performers portray multiple characters each. Gideon was cast in the first production with Paul Libscomb nearly 30 years ago, but each revival since has been a collaboration with Domann.

Gideon revealed the pair get frequent requests to revive the shows, but they have now performed all four scripts and new ones aren’t being written. He explained that certain scenes have become favorites for the duo, and he has a novel idea for revamping the material.

“If we would ever do it again, I have threatened to Beth at times that I was going to sit down and work my way through all of the scripts and make a list of all the scenes in all of those scripts that we like, put the scenes all together and we would call it TUNA CASSEROLE,” he quipped. “I think it has great potential.”

Since the 1980s, Gideon has been dedicated to sharing the performing arts with younger generations. As a teacher in the Springfield Public School system, and surrounding areas, he has mounted dozens of shows and been heavily involved in speech and debate tournaments.

After graduating from Evangel University in 1978, Gideon first found his way onto the SLT stage before leaving town. He knew he would be moving to Pittsburg, Kansas for graduate school and wanted to take advantage of an opportunity to appear in CARNIVAL. He wouldn’t return to the Ozarks until 1985 when he began teaching at Nixa and then moved to Kickapoo High School.

When time allowed, Gideon jumped into SLT productions including ANNIE, TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE, THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, GRAPES OF WRATH, CADDIE WOODLAWN, and an original musical, MISSOURI. In 1997, he made his SLT directorial debut with the one woman show SHIRLEY VALENTINE.

“When a director directs, you get his impression of a script on stage. If they’re always the one directing, then we’re only seeing one version.”

Gideon encourages fresh ideas and for younger artists to take up the mantle. He praised his WIZARD OF OZ choreographer, Josh Inmon, who recently directed and choreographed WAITRESS.

“Now we have Josh Inmon and he is so good,” Gideon remarked. “He’s such a good director. He’s a choreographer, he’s a director, he works great with kids, he’s very organized, he really lets an experienced actor explore and do and then offers suggestions.”

Gideon now serves as the Vice President of the SLT Guild, which helps to raise money for the organization as well as curate interest in the theatre’s programs and productions. As a volunteer, he recognizes the sacrifices made by performers, parents, crew, and more to keep the doors open.

“Springfield Little Theatre was created in the beginning because a group of individuals had a love of theater and a love for the city,” he admired. “Theater is the truest act of love. You give up six to eight weeks or more of your personal life so that in 90 minutes – over nine or fifteen performances – you give everything you’ve got so that someone out in the audience, their thinking is changed, their heart is touched, their memories are evoked. That is the purest act of love that someone is giving so much of themselves either as a director or as an actor or as a technician for that brief moment in the whole scope of life that someone is sitting in the dark in the Landers Theatre and they are transported to another place or time.”

Although he has dedicated many hours to SLT productions, Gideon acknowledges that the work volunteers do to develop an entire season of shows can never be fully appreciated. That magic that makes it look effortless, he said, is its own reward.

“The average person has no idea what goes into the hours and hours of rehearsal and picking out props and costumes and all that stuff. They have no idea, and they don’t need to know because that’s not their job. Our job is to provide the highest quality of entertainment that we possibly can. In that offering, if we can change lives or touch hearts, then our job is done.”

EXIT LAUGHING runs March 14 – 23 on the Landers stage. Tickets are available now.