Tracking criminals through snow-covered Montana scenery may not have been Steve Reynolds’ specialty, but the Wild West stories shared by his father about his gun- toting sheriff grandpa may just have set the stage for his own lifelong pursuit.
By Karen Saatkamp Gerboth ’93
“My dad was a painter who became a commercial artist in New York City,” Reynolds said. “When he would come home every night, he wouldn’t eat right away. Instead he would find my brothers and me, and then tell stories about life in Montana where he grew up.”
Conversations with his older brother, Bob, about books and literature also became a staple in the Reynolds home, as did an understanding of the human condition through his mother’s eyes as a social worker.
“I had great parents,” Reynolds says. “I was so lucky, no question about it.”
Yet it wasn’t luck that landed Reynolds the top faculty prize, the Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Teaching, in May. It was his commitment to students, passionate, creative teaching, and his unique ability to take literature and turn it into a production.
Discovering his gifts, however, required an intense desire to do more than sports during his college years at Tufts University.
“Tufts had this program in London, England,” Reynolds recalls. “I went to London as an English major, but there was a playwriting class in the program. My play was selected to be directed by a professional guest director.”
And then it happened. A light-bulb moment that Reynolds has never forgotten.
“I heard my words being spoken and discussed, and I just knew that I needed to be in this field.”
After graduating from Tufts, Reynolds eventually found himself teaching high school drama while directing for a local community theatre in his hometown. He then headed a bit west himself to earn his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan.
“This field was a glove-fit from the beginning, and I’ve never lost that passion,” Reynolds says, adding that his three decades of teaching at Wittenberg affirms that passion daily.
“Playwrights try to uncover the great truths about the human condition, and to watch our students start to own their characters and create art themselves has been fantastic.”
Getting to work collaboratively with students, alumni and colleagues across the country has also been an honor for Reynolds, who has guest-directed several productions with former students.
“It’s a special experience to work with our alumni,” he says. “I actually think I became a director because I wanted to play all the parts,” he then adds with a smile as he begins to reflect on his final production at Wittenberg.
To cap his 31-year career, Reynolds chose to direct Gilbert and Sullivan’s musical comedy The Pirates of Penzance, April 19-21, which featured a 26-member cast. Reynolds also found some special surprise guests in the audience during the shows as more than 30 alumni returned for his final production.
“It was so touching to find out how much they appreciated the experience they had here in our department,” Reynolds says. “Students continue to want that one-on-one experience and the chance to start from scratch every day because of the opportunities we offer in and outside of class. We are unmatched here in that everyone who wants to work can do so.”
Through those opportunities, friendships form as do lifelong relationships between professors and students. To this day, he keeps in touch with numerous alumni across the country, and he has plans to make the hike back to Ohio to guest direct Wittenberg’s 2013 spring performance.
“This year has been a great gift to me,” Reynolds says. “It’s been magical in every way.”