DEL LEWIS – THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE
His journey is a testament to the unexpected doors that military service opened, shaping both his professional and personal life.
Since he was young, Del Lewis has had a love for music and performance. His assignment to the Army’s Special Services furthered the passion he pursued after he left the Army. His journey is a testament to the unexpected doors that military service opened, shaping both his professional and personal life.
Lewis grew up in the small farming community of Friona, Texas. Whether it was singing at church or entertaining his friends, he found joy in sharing his voice with others. After high school, he attended Midwestern University in Wichita Falls, Texas where he earned a bachelor’s degree in sacred music, focusing on voice and choral conducting. At Midwestern, every male student was required to take two years of ROTC; Lewis, though, did another two and after graduating in 1959 went through regular army basic training and immediately received his commission as a Second Lieutenant.
While attending Quartermaster Officer’s Training at Fort Lee, Virginia, Lewis formed a chorus to perform Handel’s Messiah which caught the attention of the Post Special Services. “They got me assigned to them and I organized the Quartermaster Command Chorus. The Army had an entertainment contest; the eight Army areas each had individual contests. The winners in each category were brought to Washington to compete in the All Army Entertainment Contest. My chorus won in the large chorus category.” He and another member from the chorus were chosen to be in a quartet and he won with that group as well.
Following, he and the other winners from the contest were picked for the “Rolling Along of 1960” show. “What the Army does is they take the winners from the contest and put them together into a show that tours every Army base in the world. Because I was an officer and a choral conductor, I was chosen to be assistant director and did all the choral work. I was in charge of the show on tour and performed when needed.”
As he approached the end of his Army service in 1961, he received a scholarship to study voice at Juilliard in New York City. While there, he worked at the First Army Playgoers Service and later decided to take an acting class. With information from an army buddy, he sought out renowned teacher Uta Hagen at the HB Studio. “I got her on the phone, and I said, ‘Hi there, Miss Hagen, I just got out of the army, and I did a couple of shows in college, and I thought I’d like to take an acting class’,” he said. “She said ‘I’m sure we can find a class for you.’ So, I went down and met her. We sat and talked for about two hours or more and she put me in her class. I didn’t really know who she was and what a privilege I was given.”
With his second audition in New York, he secured a place in the chorus at Kansas City Starlight Theatre in the summer of 1962 where he got his Actor’s Equity card. “In the union you can’t have two actors by the same name. My legal name is Don Edwin Lewis. I took my initials (D.E.L) and made that my first name. So that’s where the Del came from.”
From then on, he participated in several productions in various cities, including Rochester, New York and Augusta, Michigan. In June of 1965, he was performing in summer stock at The Barn Theatre in Augusta where he met his wife Abigail while she was working in costuming as an apprentice. “She had to go back to school before the end of the season and I was still at The Barn doing the last show, and I called her, and I said, ‘Abbie, let’s just do this now,’ and she said ‘okay’,” he recalled. “Our anniversary is coming up on November 20th. It’ll be 59 years.”
In 1966, he was cast in the First National Touring Company of Fiddler on the Roof. With Abigail by his side, the show took them across the U.S. and to a Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace where they lived until he left the show and in 1968, he went into the Broadway production.
Lewis’ Broadway run didn’t stop there. In 1969, he was cast in The Rothschilds as the Major Doom and understudy to three of the brothers. Later in the run he was cast as Jacob Rothschild. He performed the show from its debut in 1970 till 1972 when he left the show to pursue other career moves: graduate school and starting a family.
During graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in 1972 their first child was born and the second in 1976. At the end of graduate school, he became the founding Artistic Director of Madison Repertory Theatre. From 1976 to his retirement in 2010, he has had a long-standing and impressive career. From serving on the faculty at East Carolina University to directing both the undergraduate and graduate acting programs at UW-Madison to chairing the department and directing the Center for the Arts and teaching for 23 years at Northeastern University in Boston, he shaped the next generation of performers. Along the way he was also on the national board of URTA (University Resident Theatre Association) and was a regional chair of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. He received a Kennedy Center Medallion for service to the field of theatre education.
His military service led him to a life he never expected. “The Army really changed the direction of my life,” he said. “The best thing that ever happened to me was going to summer stock in 1965 and meeting Abbie. She has been my rock and the best thing to ever happen and who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t met her.”
Today, he inspires the next generation of theatre artists as the acting instructor at The Bridgetown Conservatory of Musical Theatre in Portland and remains active in the theatre scene, still performing.
He continues to share his love for performing arts, he will continue in the field for as long as he can. “l want to stay involved,” Lewis said. “I plan on staying as long as possible.”
