Vivid. Visceral. Happy.
Those are the first three words that come to mind when Peter McDowell thinks about the spot where magic was made — backstage st Krannert Center.
“Specifically the area near the back of the Festival theater. Ever since I was 9 years old, when I was in kids’ opera choruses, I remember getting into costume and makeup in the dressing rooms; in college, I rehearsed in concert choir and was in several operas and musicals,” says the director of development for American Friends of the Louvre.
“I feel I know every corner of that backstage maze and I can remember the wonder I felt when I was a kid continuing when I was in college.
“People I remember? My friend Erie Mills, the late Jerry Hadley, David Lloyd, Mark Flint, Chet Alwes and many others throughout the years.”
Other memories of his favorite spot? “The cinderblock brick and the poured concrete floors. And of course, Ron Beebe’s cream pies upstairs at Intermezzo.”
