Behind the curtain with Theatre Brats authors Laura Paxson and Escott Norton
Laura Paxson: In 1963, my mother [Helen Paxson 52] played the Green Woman in Peer Gynt. She wore this long brown wig and my gosh, I loved that wig. I wore it around the houseit was as long as I was. They finally took it away from me because they were pulling three-foot hairs out of my baby brother mouth.
Escott Norton: I was born into Summer Theaterand living on Escarpa Drive, Occidental became my front yard. Once I was old enough to leave the house on my own, I was exploring campus all the time. I could buy candy real cheap at the bookstore.
What inspired you to do this book?
Laura: In November 2024, when Escott put together a ceremony to hang the first Summer Theater placard from 1960 in the lobby of Keck Theater, he invited family of the three founders [Omar Paxson 48, Sally Norton, and John Ingle 50] to speak. I flew down from Portland, Ore., and it was such a joyous event. After I got home, I wrote to Escott and said, We have to write a book about this, and it has to be called Theatre Brats.
Escott: More than a decade ago, when Josie Dapar donated her collection of Summer Theater slides to the library, I took it upon myself to catalog them. Weve gone through over 10,000 slides, looking at all these faces and reliving all these stories. It been in my head to do this book for a long time, but Laura kicked things into gear with her email.
Laura: Were not trying to create a hagiography, but we do feel lucky we had such creative, idiosyncratic parents.
Talk about taking Theatre Brats from an idea to a manuscript.
Laura: Even before we set up the structure of the bookwith chapters as acts and subchapters are sceneswe created 13 questions to ask everyone. Over time, we got more than 70 completed questionnaires from Summer Theater participants, almost all of them alumni.
Escott: Our initial focus was the generation from the first five years. Were losing these people, and it was important to get as many firsthand memories as we could as soon as possible.
Where are you at in marrying the text to the photography?
Escott: I could put a picture to every story. Josie captured some wonderful imagesfaces, productions, stages being built, costumes being sewn, even picnics and beach outings. It a treasure trove.
Who the audience for this book?
Escott: The stories arent just specific to Summer Theatertheyll resonate with anyone who been involved in community theater or dreamed of it.
Laura: It for anyone who ever been in a play where a fellow actor missed an entrance.
Why do people remain so engaged after all these years?
Laura: Jim Martin described Summer Theater as a socialist heavenI loved it. It was the sense that everybody did everything. There were no egos, no prima donnas, and you did not sit on the sidelines. If there was a button to be sewn, you were sewing it.
Escott: My impression is that we all knew each other as one giant community, even though it was spread over 39 years.
Laura: Someone referred to Sally as the mother, John as the impresario, and my dad as the heart and soul. Summer Theater spoiled us for everything else because nothing else was ever as good as that experience.
Escott: As kids, we were thrown into situations we werent qualified for. I had college students working under me when I was a kid.
What the most surprising thing youve learned working on this?
Escott: Realizing how much of an impact it made on people who werent related by blood. Seeing how much our parents were loved and appreciated has been amazing.
Laura: Summer Theater was so utopian in so many ways. And all the utopian societies failed, and in the end Summer Theater went away too. But they all started out with these egalitarian ideals. It fascinating going down that rabbit hole.
Theatre Brats will be published this fall. To learn more, visit .
Top photo: Laura Paxson, Ken Bryant 78, and Steve Wayland 80 in Shaw Androcles and the Lion (1977).
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