Don Winsor makes living as someone he isn't
One of the "rites of passage" for many high school students is the annual school musical. Each year a dozen or so talented and not-so-talented kids put themselves in the spotlight. They make themselves into someone else, step on stage, and for an hour or so weave a make-believe story for parents and friends.
For most of those youngsters, that is as much as they want of greasepaint and applause. But occasionally one of them wants more.
In the early 1990s, Donald "Chip" Winsor was the kid from Peabody High School who decided he wanted to keep going back on stage. Cast as Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady" Winsor said it wasn't until then "
Shortly after his 1992 graduation from Peabody High School and a stint at Butler County Community College, Winsor took to the road.
"I did lots of area stuff in and around Wichita and Kansas City
"After Wisconsin I began working pretty consistently. In 1997 I began to base myself out of New York City because, if that is not where the work is, it IS the place you go to get the work," he continued.
Winsor has found that his work takes him all over the map. The list of playhouses and theatres on his resume reads like a travel brochure — Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Wisconsin, Virginia, Kentucky, and back home in Kansas. In November he finished a two-month assignment with the Crown Uptown Theatre in Wichita playing Harold Hill in "The Music Man."
"I'd spoken to Crown Uptown owner Ted Morris several times about coming in for one show or another," he said. "This time I really wanted to fit it in. My family doesn't get to see me perform as much as I'd like them to and I don't get to see them nearly as much as I want to. To play a role like Harold Hill and do it so close to home seemed just ideal."
He is currently at the Cabaret in Grand Junction, Colo. What was to have been a fairly normal tour of duty as Gaston in "Beauty and the Beast" has been drawn out to a 150-day job that will end March 20. Winsor is not sure where his career will take him after this role. But rarely is he without work.
"I love the stage," he said. "I've been lucky, I've always been able to get work." Winsor says he attends auditions at United Professional Theatre Audition in Memphis every year or two to keep his name and face before companies looking for actors.
"You audition for nearly 100 companies at once," he said. "The following day there is an interview process with companies that are interested. It has always been productive." Winsor also keeps in touch with people "in the trade" with an updated mailing he sends out every other month or so.
"Also, since I have been doing this for a while now, at least some people in my end of the business know me. Sometimes they get in touch with me," he added. "The job (in Colorado) is with a company that saw me in New York some time ago. As an actor, I think my job is making sure I have work. The actual performing is the easy part."
Winsor was involved in theatre and forensics as a student in the Peabody-Burns school district. "The first play I remember was at Burns Grade School as a third grader. The skit was called 'A Rainbow to Ride' and I was cast as Mr. McSpectrum. My friend John Bumm and I would put together acts for the annual Burns talent show
He also had a role in the school musical "Oklahoma!" as a senior and was active in forensics all four years.
He added that he once spent a day with a DJ at a Wichita radio station for a school newspaper story he was doing and the DJ encouraged him to audition for summer work with Wichita Community Theatre. Winsor said he promised his parents that if they let him try out for that and he didn't get a part, he'd drop the whole idea of being an actor.
"At that point, I meant it," he said. "Somehow though I got it and did several shows with them (WCT) in the next few years. At the time they paid $30 a performance."
Through his WCT experience, college productions, and his stint with Kansas Opera Theatre and Great Plains Theatre Festival, Winsor continued to learn and improve.
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"At Wichita Community Theatre a woman named Beth Sisson and her husband were patrons who made it possible for me to do the shows there. Beth had been involved with theatre for ages and taught me the dignity that comes from being a theatre person."
The learning never stops. Fencing, impersonations, dancing, dialects, and even six-gun tricks are included in his resume. Winsor said he didn't learn until after high school that he really could sing, but that he had been using his voice incorrectly and ineffectively. With many more musicals to his credit than non-musical roles, his voice is obviously a tremendous asset. He said one of his goals is to one day "sing all the great roles I'm still too young for."
His favorites roles among those he has played in musical productions are Chauvelin in "The Scarlet Pimpernel," Pilate in "Jesus Christ Superstar," and both the Beast and Gaston in "Beauty and the Beast." His favorite non-musical role is Hamlet. "
Winsor also has done some film work, commercials, and "industrials" (training films for various companies), but says he prefers the stage.
"The theatre means something to me. It's more fulfilling than film work. I won't dismiss auditions (for film work), but the circles I travel in are pretty specific," he said. He added that his goals are to be able to make a living doing what he loves, to work with people he respects and who challenge him, and to deserve the respect of his peers.
It appears the stage-struck kid cast as Henry Higgins for the PHS stage is making his mark in theatre around the country. With the alumni of the Peabody-Burns school district scattered far and wide, chances are Don Winsor will be playing in a theatre near you. Watch for him!
Editor's note: Don is the son of Arlene and Earl Winsor who still live on the farm near Burns where Don grew up. (And he isn't called "Chip" anymore.) You may keep track of Don's career at www.donwinsor.com.
