In the Spotlight: Paul Bentzen

30 questions for 30 seasons, core company actor Paul Bentzen gives us the lowdown on three decades at APT. APT: Over the past 30 years, which show has been your favorite? Paul Bentzen: The classic answer: the one I'm doing now. In this case Heroes. APT: Do you have a specific pre-performance ritual? PB: No, I like to get to them a bit early. APT: What can we find you doing during your free time? PB: Fly fishing, cooking, pickin' bluegrass with friends. Lately I've been wintering in NYC where I recharge my cultural batteries. APT: If you were stranded on an island, what would be the one thing you took along? PB: A good boat. APT: What is your fondest memory of APT? PB: On stage: Singing Wind and Rain as Feste, in actual wind and rain. Off stage, showing up at rehearsal with a five-foot bull snake wrapped around my arm, and bleeding where it bit me. Awesome! APT: What are your top three movies? PB: Crazy Heart, Fanny and Alexander, The Pawn Broker APT: What's your most embarrassing APT moment? PB: When I unintentionally accused Randy Kim of ranting and raving. APT: Any pets? PB: Not anymore. RIP Wally and Darwin. APT: What is an indulgence for you? PB: Pigging out at the Dorf Haus's Bavarian Smorgasbord. APT: Do you get nervous before a show? PB: I'd call it excited anticipation. APT: What's your favorite season? PB: Spring and Fall, a tie. APT: How is acting at APT different from other venues? PB: You have to be able to speak and inhale bugs at the same time. APT: What was your childhood ambition? PB: To be a zoologist. APT: What was the last thing you purchased? PB: Shampoo and conditioner. APT: Sweet or salty? PB: A bit of both is nice. APT: What are three words that describe your life? PB: Charmed. Lucky. Quirky. APT: What is the best part of performing outdoors, up the hill? PB: Seeing the stars when the lights go to black. APT: What's your favorite possession? PB: My sense of humor. APT: As an experienced banjo player, what's your favorite serenade? PB: Banjo players don't serenade. You'll get a shoe thrown at you...or worse! APT: What book do you suggest we all go out and read? PB: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. APT: What show has had the largest influence on you personally? PB: Cherry Orchard all because of one scene between me as Firs and Tracy Arnold as Charlotte. APT: APT has put you in some crazy costumes. Which is your favorite? PB: Budd Hill's design for Angelo in The Comedy of Errors would be right up there. I also seem to recall having huge wings for Time in Winter's Tale. One night one broke and I flounced about like a ruptured chicken. Am I imagining that? APT: Do you prefer having a mustache or going without? PB: Without (for now). APT: Where's your favorite place to eat? PB: My backyard patio. APT: It's Saturday Night. What's your drink of choice? PB: Beer mostly. In summer I've been gravitating back to American lagers like Leinies. In winter, Guinness. APT: What's your dream role? PB: I'd like to do a really good role (doesn't have to be big) in a really good Indy film with a really good director. APT: What would the title of your autobiography be? PB: I Came, I Saw, I Stayed for Thirty @#$%@#$ Years! APT: What's your proudest accomplishment at APT? PB: Actually making a living doing what I love. I wish everyone could be so lucky. APT: What's your favorite album/band? PB: Impossible to say - so many. How about Gordon Lightfoot's very first album for United Artists. Also JD Crowe and the New South, Old Home Place. APT: Did you ever think you'd spend thirty years at APT? PB: When I first saw the outdoor stage and met Randy and Annie I knew that it was destiny that I would work there. Thirty years?? That's crazy!!