Kathleen Huber

Kathleen Huber

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Your name Kathleen Huber

Email mtrofrano@earthlink.net

Alhambra elementary school(s) attended Marguerita

Current occupation (e.g., retired, working full/part time, volunteering, caring for family, other) Actress, Stage Director, Playwright, Translator.

Describe your family/extended family Married to Jerome Martin Schwartz, Ph.D, whom I met doing summer stock in New Hampshire in 1970.

How have you gained knowledge or continued your education after high school? B.A. Degree in Theatre at University of California at Santa Barbara, Class of 1968. Also studied at Pasadena Playhouse and British Drama League. And from age 11-16, wonderful summers with the Junior Players at the Idyllwild Arts Foundation.

What would like to share about your life's work? I apprenticed as Casting Secretary and Production Assistant at the Mark Taper Forum, then came to NYC as Assistant to director Brian Murray on an Off-Broadway play called "A Scent of Flowers", where I also understudied Katharine Houghton. Since then I've worked extensively as an actress and director throughout the United States, and for four years (1974-77) aboard luxury cruise ships with my husband as a two-man acting team (Our first cruise was around the world!). I've had short stories published in all the major children's magazines, and my plays have been performed Off-Broadway, at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, and all over the USA with ArtsPower Touring productions. Most recently, I have translated several works by Parisian playwright Bernard Da Costa, and (with my husband) four plays by the 18th Century philosophe Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The first performable translations of these plays), which we hope to see published in a single volume, with scholarly introductions. Most recently I played Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the White Plains Performing Arts Center, and Mrs. Higgins in "My Fair Lady" at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

What special interests and/or activities have you enjoyed during the last half century? I took up long-distance running when I turned 30, and have run 6 marathons. Jerry and I still love travel, especially to visit the places where our cruise work didn't take us - most recently, Bermuda and Alaska. I also admit to a love of Disney parks (Disneyland in LA opened when I was...I think...seven. My first "Actors' Equity" job was a production of "Private Lives" in Orlando, Florida in 1972, so I was able to see Disney World during its first year. Jerry and I also honeymooned at Disney's Grand Floridian in Orlando. (Fulfilled a long-held dream - to watch the fireworks over Cinderella's Castle from our bedroom window.)

Please share the highlights of the places you've lived or traveled Living in New York City is never-endingly exciting, but I also feel great nostalgia every time I visit California. A few highlights - Honolulu (a true paradise), Hong Kong (Amazing!), Copenhagen (Such fun! Every evening at Tivoli Gardens) - Venice (the most romantic city in the world), Paris (the most beautiful city in the world), the fjords of Norway (only rivaled by Alaska's Inside Passage and Glacier Bay), a night at Two Bunch Palms in Desert Hot Springs, lunch at the rooftop restaurant of the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, our first Peking Duck in Hong Kong, hiking down to Crater Lake and jumping in!, snorkeling at Hanauma Bay (I met a sea turtle!), Shakespeare at Stratford -Upon-Avon, Athens, Delphi, and the Pyramids of Giza. Probably left out a lot, but these come to mind. Oh, one more! If anyone out there remembers the dog books of Albert Payson Terhune (our generation should), the grounds of his home, Sunnybank, are now preserved as a park in Pompton lakes, New Jersey. The house is gone, but the graves of the dogs (Lad, Bruce, Gray Dawn, Wolf, etc.) are still there, and the lawn still slopes down to "the fire-blue lake".

What is your favorite AHS Memory? Probably Mr. Ward's wonderful English Class, and being part of the Writers' Guild. Also the Modern Dance class Sophomore Year - Freed us up!

What are your favorite books or movies? SO many. My Desert Island book AND movie would probably be "Lord of the Rings." Other special movies: "Lawrence of Arabia, "The Magnificent Seven", "The Haunting" (the one with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom, not the awful remake!), "True Believer' (if you don't know that one, you're in for a treat!), and the Alexander Korda version of "The Thief of Bagdad" (the one with Sabu). Special Books: "The Secret Garden", "Auntie Mame," "The Thirteen Clocks", and "The Princess Bride." Also Stephen King's "Dark Tower" epic.

What matters most to you about the life you've lived? That I've been able to make a living doing work I love - That I've found a wonderful husband to share my joys, sorrows and adventures, and (a small but important thing) that I've been able to perform in the plays of Shakespeare - the High Point of any actor's life.

What do you still hope to accomplish or experience? (What's left on your bucket list?) Travel and Art - To see our Rousseau translations on a shelf in the Drama Book Shop, to play Eleanor of Aquitaine in "The Lion in Winter" and Hannah Pitt in "Angels in America," and to see some places we still haven't been - The Taj Mahal, Kyoto, Australia, Bora-Bora, Heidelburg..."The road goes ever on and on..."

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Question	Answer
Your name	Kathleen Huber
Email	mtrofrano@earthlink.net
Alhambra elementary school(s) attended	Marguerita
Current occupation (e.g., retired, working full/part time, volunteering, caring for family, other)	Actress, Stage Director, Playwright, Translator.
Describe your family/extended family	Married to Jerome Martin Schwartz, Ph.D, whom I met doing summer stock in New Hampshire in 1970.
How have you gained knowledge or continued your education after high school?	B.A. Degree in Theatre at University of California at Santa Barbara, Class of 1968. Also studied at Pasadena Playhouse and British Drama League. And from age 11-16, wonderful summers with the Junior Players at the Idyllwild Arts Foundation.
What would like to share about your life's work?	I apprenticed as Casting Secretary and Production Assistant at the Mark Taper Forum, then came to NYC as Assistant to director Brian Murray on an Off-Broadway play called "A Scent of Flowers", where I also understudied Katharine Houghton. Since then I've worked extensively as an actress and director throughout the United States, and for four years (1974-77) aboard luxury cruise ships with my husband as a two-man acting team (Our first cruise was around the world!). I've had short stories published in all the major children's magazines, and my plays have been performed Off-Broadway, at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, and all over the USA with ArtsPower Touring productions. Most recently, I have translated several works by Parisian playwright Bernard Da Costa, and (with my husband) four plays by the 18th Century philosophe Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The first performable translations of these plays), which we hope to see published in a single volume, with scholarly introductions. Most recently I played Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the White Plains Performing Arts Center, and Mrs. Higgins in "My Fair Lady" at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
What special interests and/or activities have you enjoyed during the last half century?	I took up long-distance running when I turned 30, and have run 6 marathons. Jerry and I still love travel, especially to visit the places where our cruise work didn't take us - most recently, Bermuda and Alaska. I also admit to a love of Disney parks (Disneyland in LA opened when I was...I think...seven. My first "Actors' Equity" job was a production of "Private Lives" in Orlando, Florida in 1972, so I was able to see Disney World during its first year. Jerry and I also honeymooned at Disney's Grand Floridian in Orlando. (Fulfilled a long-held dream - to watch the fireworks over Cinderella's Castle from our bedroom window.)
Please share the highlights of the places you've lived or traveled	Living in New York City is never-endingly exciting, but I also feel great nostalgia every time I visit California. A few highlights - Honolulu (a true paradise), Hong Kong (Amazing!), Copenhagen (Such fun! Every evening at Tivoli Gardens) - Venice (the most romantic city in the world), Paris (the most beautiful city in the world), the fjords of Norway (only rivaled by Alaska's Inside Passage and Glacier Bay), a night at Two Bunch Palms in Desert Hot Springs, lunch at the rooftop restaurant of the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, our first Peking Duck in Hong Kong, hiking down to Crater Lake and jumping in!, snorkeling at Hanauma Bay (I met a sea turtle!), Shakespeare at Stratford -Upon-Avon, Athens, Delphi, and the Pyramids of Giza. Probably left out a lot, but these come to mind. Oh, one more! If anyone out there remembers the dog books of Albert Payson Terhune (our generation should), the grounds of his home, Sunnybank, are now preserved as a park in Pompton lakes, New Jersey. The house is gone, but the graves of the dogs (Lad, Bruce, Gray Dawn, Wolf, etc.) are still there, and the lawn still slopes down to "the fire-blue lake".
What is your favorite AHS Memory?	Probably Mr. Ward's wonderful English Class, and being part of the Writers' Guild. Also the Modern Dance class Sophomore Year - Freed us up!
What are your favorite books or movies?	SO many. My Desert Island book AND movie would probably be "Lord of the Rings." Other special movies: "Lawrence of Arabia, "The Magnificent Seven", "The Haunting" (the one with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom, not the awful remake!), "True Believer' (if you don't know that one, you're in for a treat!), and the Alexander Korda version of "The Thief of Bagdad" (the one with Sabu). Special Books: "The Secret Garden", "Auntie Mame," "The Thirteen Clocks", and "The Princess Bride." Also Stephen King's "Dark Tower" epic.
What matters most to you about the life you've lived?	That I've been able to make a living doing work I love - That I've found a wonderful husband to share my joys, sorrows and adventures, and (a small but important thing) that I've been able to perform in the plays of Shakespeare - the High Point of any actor's life.
What do you still hope to accomplish or experience? (What's left on your bucket list?)	Travel and Art - To see our Rousseau translations on a shelf in the Drama Book Shop, to play Eleanor of Aquitaine in "The Lion in Winter" and Hannah Pitt in "Angels in America," and to see some places we still haven't been - The Taj Mahal, Kyoto, Australia, Bora-Bora, Heidelburg..."The road goes ever on and on..."