Tennessee Shakespeare Festival: Jerry Winsett, Part 2!

It's evident as you watch actor Jerry Winsett on stage that he loves what he's doing. And his stage career extends far beyond the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival, where he just wrapped up a summer of shows as Aegeon in "The Comedy of Errors." Winsett also has his own dinner theatre company, Murder Mystery Productions, as well as Unique Entertainment Productions, producing interactive murder mystery shows and such audience delights as "Big Phat Redneck Wedding" at venues throughout the Carolinas.

Winsett began his performing career singing with his own band in Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee. Before leaving Tennessee, Jerry performed professionally at Nashville Children's Theater, Theatre Nashville, and Opryland USA as well as many other Southern stages in such productions as "1776," "Wind in the Willows," "Man of La Mancha," "The Marriage of Figaro" and "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." He has been a guest artist at the Tennessee Arts/Tennessee Artists Festival, where he created the role of Danny (aka Cupid) in the musical "Constellations From the Heart" and as a guest artist at A.P.S.U. in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum."

Winsett's career also went West, to L.A., where his stage credits included "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "The Taming of the Shrew" at the Richard Basehart Theatre and "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "The Alchemist" at The Globe. He then trod the boards as Sir Toby Belch in the Nevada Shakespeare Festival's production of "Twelfth Night," performed in the premiere production of "Pssst! Tell 'em Joe Sent Ya" at Back on Broadway Dinner Theatre. Just before leaving L.A., he was seen as Renfield in Dancing Dog Theatre Company's highly praised production of "Dracula" and starred with Lane Davies in the Santa Susana Repertory Company's acclaimed production of "Man of La Mancha." Jerry was also on the board of directors of Dancing Dog Theatre Company, L.A.'s first producing classical repertory Theatre Company as well as being the administrative director of the Santa Susana Repertory Company.

Based in North Carolina now, the actor talks a little more about his stage work, both front-and-center and backstage, in the second half of our BRBTV interview:

Photo by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV; copying with credit is OK -- a link would be grand!