Veteran And Award-Winning Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles Stage Actor And Play Director Darryl Maximilian Robinson Celebrates The Upcoming 14th Anniversary of His Hollywood And Greater Los Angeles Area Stage Debut ( June 4, 2010 In The Hollywood Fringe Festival 50th Anniversary Revival Production of Tom Jones' And Harvey Schmidt's The Fantasticks ) By Sharing A List Of His Personal Top 10 LA Theatre Roles!

 

Over the past several years and more, Chicago-born drama pro Darryl Maximilian Robinson ( a 1997 Chicago Joseph Jefferson Citation Award Winner for Outstanding Actor In A Principal Role In A Play for his performance as Sam Semela in The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago revival production of Athol Fugard's "Master Harold And The Boys presented at the much-missed Heartland Cafe Studio Theatre of Rogers Park in The Windy City ) has grown to love his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, Ca. He has taken The City of Angels into his Heart!

But Mr. Robinson was born, raised and reared in The Theatre of The Windy City! His training and experience in drama came in working with small and large non-Equity Chicago professional theatre groups and educational arts organizations. 

In the year 1983 alone, he played Windy City Founder and Frontiersman Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable in playwright Alice Rubio's "Chicago: A Tale Of One City" in a touring production to Chicago Public Schools and private schools for the Urban Gateways Arts Organization as well as the notorious African-American / Mexican-American cowboy, bank robber and confidence man Ben Hodges ( opposite talented young fellow performers Percy Littleton as Deadwood Dick and Darryl Manuel as Cherokee Bill ) in noted Producer Val Gray Ward's and skilled Director Eddie D. Richardson's Kuumba Theatre Company musical of "Deadwood Dick: The Legend Of The West" staged at The Old Pakula Building in The Loop of Downtown Chicago.

He has never forgotten that training ( from the mid 1970s with The Chicagoland High School Theatrical Troupe through the early 1980s with The Chicago City Theatre at The Historic Fine Arts Building in The Loop ), nor the artistic discipline he had garnered from it ( even though from time-to-time it has prevented him from winning certain theatre roles he wanted on the west coast, that same mid-westerner, stubborn-headed attitude has also protected him from becoming involved in more than a few less-than-legitimate LA acting projects! And any performing artist in The Windy City that has visited Los Angeles to try and make a go of it in Hollywood knows what that means! ). For a performing artist of any kind, the challenge of living and working at your craft in The City of Angels is not for "the-faint-of-heart."

When veteran and award-winning stage actor and play director Darryl Maximilian Robinson first arrived in Los Angeles in September of 2005, his initial intention was not to work in LA as a theatre artist, he had already enjoyed some critical praise and recognition for that in his native Chicago, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri and other cities and regions of the U.S. His plan was to promote and sell three, unsold and unpublished screenplays he had penned. But after several years of trying to obtain a literary agent for his scripts in Los Angeles, Mr. Robinson ( who was working multiple "Day Gigs" to make ends meet ) decided to return to teaching and training actors privately, and ultimately returning to public stage performances, which occurred with his LA debut on June 4, 2010 in the role of the old Shakespearean actor Henry Albertson in the first-ever Hollywood Fringe Festival 50th Anniversary Revival Production of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt's The Fantasticks presented by The Tribe Productions at The Complex Theatre in Tinseltown!

 

Today, May 17, 2024, several years later, after appearing in numerous plays, musicals and world premiere productions in The City of Angels, Darryl Maximilian Robinson reflects on his best Los Angeles stage parts with his personal list of Top 10 Los Angeles Stage Roles!:

 

 

1. ) Major-General Stanley in the 2014 San Pedro Theatre Club of San Pedro, California 135th Anniversary Revival Production of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance.

2.) The Narrator & The Mysterious Man in the 2014 Burbank Community Theatre staging of Stephen Sondheim's & James Lapine's Into The Woods presented at The Hall of Liberty at Forest Lawn in The Hollywood Hills.

3.) Henry Albertson in the 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival 50th Anniversary Revival Production of Tom Jones' and Harvey Schmidt's The Fantasticks presented by The Tribe Productions at The Complex Theatre in Los Angeles.

https://youtu.be/U4INzaOqvaA

4.) Ernest in Tad Mosel's Impromptu as part of the 2016 Emmanuel Lutheran Actors' Theatre Ensemble - ELATE evening of one-acts entitled Just 4 Fun presented at The Lincoln Stegman Theatre in North Hollywood, Ca. Darryl Maximilian Robinson won a 2015 / 2016 Los Angeles Elate Season Ticket Holder Best Actor Award nomination for his performance as the debonair, but aging leading man Ernest in Tad Mosel's classic one-act of Life In The Theatre "Impromptu."

5.) Booker T. Washington in the 2013 Kentwood Players' revival of Stephen Flaherty's, Lynn Ahrens' and Terrance McNally's musical Ragtime presented at The Westchester Playhouse in Los Angeles. Darryl Maximilian Robinson received a 2013 Los Angeles Marcom Masque Theatre Award nomination for Best Actor In A Major Supporting Role for his performance as Booker T. Washington in Ragtime.

6.) The Ghost of Christmas Present and Others in the 2010 Glendale Centre Theatre of Glendale, California annual musical production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

7.) The Butler John Lawless in the 2011 Glendale Center Theatre 55th anniversary revival production of Kyle Critchton's The Happiest Millionaire.

8.) The Reverend Sykes in the 2011 Glendale Centre Theatre staging of playwright Christopher Sergel's adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird.

 

9.) Don Carlos ( Performing English Language Understudy ) in the 2011 Bilingual Actors' Repertory Theatre Company ( Bartco ) world premiere production of Salvadoran playwright Waldo Chavez Velasco's Dreams Factory / Fabrica De Suenos at The Stages Theatre Center in Hollywood, California.

10.) Stanley C. Dunklin, Jr. in the 2012 The Smiley Face And The Frown Entertainment Group world premiere production of Mark Mason's and Ellen Chambers' Rest For The Weary Spirit presented at A. Studio Theatre in The Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles, California.

What long-time stage actor and play director Darryl Maximilian Robinson ( The Founder of the multiracial, non-Equity professional chamber theatre The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago and The Excaliber Shakespeare Company Los Angeles Archival Project ) has learned from a variety of different theatre artists working in the Greater Los Angeles area during the nearly decade-and-a-half of appearing on the boards in The City of Angels is that The Performing Arts really are taken seriously by both presenters and audiences and that LA is not all about film and television! The Theatre is Alive and Well There!

WHAT'S YOUR TOP 10?

https://en.everybodywiki.com/Darryl_Maximilian_Robinson

https://theatreblogofdarrylmaximilianrobinson.blogspot.com/

https://theatre.fandom.com/wiki/Biography_Of_The_Award-winning_Stage_Actor_And_Play_Director_Darryl_Maximilian_Robinson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATRIOZgDStg

AND...WITH GREAT PLEASURE AND PRIDE AN OLD CHICAGO STAGE PERFORMER IS DELIGHTED TO BE FEATURED IN AN ARTICLE OF THE HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER!:

Again, your humble servant in The Theatre, Darryl Maximilian Robinson, expresses his thanks and gratitude to The Editorial Staff of The Chicago Weekend Citizen by The Citizen Newspaper Group for sharing a Feature Story regarding his 50th Anniversary As An American Stage Performer, highlighted by his photo on the Cover Page of the 12-27-2023 Edition.

Many, many thanks.

https://citizennewspapergroup....

Note: Now celebrating his 50th Anniversary as an American Stage Performer, Darryl Maximilian Robinson ( The Founder of The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago and The Excaliber Shakespeare Company Los Angeles Archival Project ) was last seen by Windy City theatregoers in the marvelous dual roles of The Chairman Mr. William Cartwright and Mayor Thomas Sapsea in skilled Director / Musical Director Robert-Eric West's 2018 Saint Sebastian Players Chicago revival of Rupert Holmes' Tony Award-winning Best Musical Whodunit The Mystery of Edwin Drood for which Mr. Robinson earned critical praise and a 2019 BroadwayWorld Chicago Award nomination for Best Performer In A Musical or Revue ( Resident Non-Equity ).

 

 

Darryl Maximilian Robinson has become noted as the very first black actor in American Theatre History to portray on stage a trio of classic dramatic roles including: Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt's "A Man For All Seasons" ( in a 1984 revival presented by The University Players of The University of Missouri-St. Louis and directed by AEA Member John Grassilli at The Benton Hall Theater ); King Henry II in a 1992 multiracial cast revival of James Goldman's "The Lion In Winter" ( directed by Mr. Robinson for his chamber theatre Excaliber Productions, Ltd in St. Louis and staged at The Wabash Triangle Cafe ); and Andrew Wyke ( opposite the talented actor Sean Nix as Milo Tindle ) in a 2000, 30th Anniversary, all-black cast revival of Anthony Shaffer's "Sleuth" presented under Mr. Robinson's direction by his chamber theatre The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago at The Harrison Street Galleries Studio Theatre of Oak Park, Illinois.

Most recently, Darryl Maximilian Robinson was named a winner of a 2022 Making The World Happening Award for his numerous online theatre-related offerings at Allevents.in during the early years of The Covid-19 pandemic.