Meet Toby Hessenauer, a seasoned figure in the Baltimore/Annapolis theater scene and current president of Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre. Toby’s journey in theater began early, with memorable roles like a giraffe in nursery school productions. His passion for the stage flourished during his film studies at the University of Rochester, where he crossed paths with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company and collaborated with Tony award-winning orchestrator Doug Besterman. Toby’s extensive career spans from directing popular British farces in local dinner theaters to working on acclaimed productions with HBO. Now, as he directs Hay Fever at Cockpit, Toby brings decades of experience and a deep love for theater to every production.
Thomas “Toby” Hessenauer
Director for Hay Fever
Thomas “Toby” Hessenauer is the current president of the board of Cockpit in Court, but his theatrical ties go back beyond elementary school, first appearing as a giraffe in a nursery school presentation. As a film major at the University of Rochester he was lucky to have had half a dozen members of the Royal Shakespeare Company as visiting professors in 2 different classes, one of which wrote and compiled an anthology play on the history of Shakespearean performances in America (entitled Shakespeare in the Saddle) which became part of the RSC’s repertoire afterwards. It was here at Rochester that he became friends with the now multi-Tony award winning orchestrator Doug Besterman as they worked on productions of Working and The Fantasticks together. During his senior year in college he took a semester abroad for an internship with the British Film Institute which led to him being hired to assist the BBC in the dubbing of a Russian made film version of Tom Sawyer into English for a proposed airing on US TV the following year.
Following graduation, Toby returned to Baltimore and quickly became involved with the local dinner theater community, at one point having no free weekends (because of consecutive performances) for 5 years! In his dinner theater era, he performed in a total of 5 different venues, and directed productions for 3 of them. During this time he became responsible for introducing many Baltimore theater patrons to one of his favorite genres, British farce, convincing theater owners to allow him to direct productions of Run For Your Wife (which ended up being revived multiple times due to its popularity), Not Now Darling, It Runs in the Family, Don’t Dress for Dinner and No Sex Please We’re British. During this time he also began directing for area schools, first for Towson High, then for Calvert Hall with productions including Bye Bye Birdie (with a cast of 75!), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Mikado, My Favorite Year, Dial “M” for Murder, Me and My Girl, and The Complete Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged).
Following this time period he went back to his old college major and worked on a number of film and TV productions, spending 5 years working with HBO on The Wire and gaining his membership in the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), on the multiple award winning HBO film Something the Lord Made, the Renee Zellwegger film My One and Only, the John Waters film A Dirty Shame, episodes of Veep and House of Cards, and yet another HBO film, The Special Friendship.
Over the years, Hessenauer has also appeared in a variety of community and regional theaters, Heritage Players (A Few Good Men and Titanic), Drama Learning Center (The Producers), Salem Players (Mr Roberts), Compass Rose (Oliver!, The Sound of Music, Barefoot in the Park, Romeo and Juliet), and just last year was requested to step into the lead role of Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution at Vagabonds on just about 2 weeks notice.
Hessenauer’s affiliation with theater at CCBC began with his appearance in Sugar Babies at Dundalk Community Theater just over 20 years ago, and has bounced back and forth between Dundalk and Cockpit with shows including The 39 Steps, Night Watch, I Hate Hamlet, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, The Graduate, Intimate Apparel, and Nice Work if You Can Get It. Hay Fever marks his 99th stage production in the Baltimore/Annapolis region since his return from college and second directorial contribution to Cockpit, having directed our cabaret production of The Game is Afoot two years ago.
See Hay Fever July 18 – August 3 at CCBC Essex, Robert and Eleanor Romadka College Center, Cabaret Theatre
Tickets: $18 Adults | $16 Seniors (60+)
Box Office: 443-840-ARTS or www.ccbctickets.com
***PLEASE AVOID ticket scams by only purchasing through our website, not through an unknown third party.***.
Performances:
July 18, 19, 25, 26 at 8 p.m.
July 20, 27 at 3 p.m.
August 1, 2 at 8 p.m.
August 3 at 3 p.m.