Eugene weekly., April 25, 2019, Page 13, Image 13

OKLAHOMA ON THE EUGENE MALL, IN WHAT IS NOW KESEY SQUARE, IN JULY 1983
P H OTO C O U R T E S Y AC TO R ’ S C A B A R E T
In celebration of ACE’s 40th anniversary serving
Eugene’s creative culture, let’s take a peek at the
Technicolor dreamcoat that is their story.
Zingo, Connecticut-born, relocated to the University
of Oregon as a grad student in the arts and special
education. He would eventually go on to fulfill both his
creative and administrative sides through teaching at
South Eugene High School at a time when the school’s
theater program was at the top of its game. Now 75 and
perhaps a little stouter than in his chorus-line days,
Zingo wears a warm grin underneath a white beard and
a brightly colored scarf.
Roberts is Oregon-grown by his own definition. A
student of both business and music, he, too, attended
the UO as well as Lane Community College. Roberts also
maintained a career with the railroad for more than 20
years, all while working alongside Zingo and a handful
of other local theater buffs back in the ’70s. At 69, he
is the taller of the two, equal in warmth and probably
someone’s favorite uncle.
From those old days to the present day mom-and-
pop dinner theater that is ACE, Roberts and Zingo have
HONEY TASTING
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made it their life’s mission to create and cultivate the
magic of theater for the masses — and I do mean masses.
The list of ACE alums who have gone on to careers in the
arts is expansive.
Likewise, ACE has been one of only two community
theater companies — the other is Very Little Theatre,
even older — to survive here for decades, packing in
show after show with dedicated patrons.
If you’ve ever been to a musical at ACE, then you’ve
probably run into to Roberts, quietly smiling from
behind wire-rimmed glasses, instructing the usher
where to seat you or stoically standing guard from the
control booth above the back-row seats.
The more-spirited Zingo made your lasagna, a deeply
coveted family recipe, but only after, say, he finished
repurposing a leather jacket for a steam-punk Rocky
Horror Picture Show.
“Jim is the grounding energy and Joe is the frenetic,
exciting energy,” notes longtime friend and ACE veteran
Ashley Apelzin.
I can picture the Facebook quiz now: Are you a Joe, or
a Jim? If you prefer to stay out of the limelight, but your
KIDS’ CRAFTS
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FOOD CARTS
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affable laugh reminds everyone that you still know how to
have a good time, then you’re probably a Jim. If you have
the gift of gab and glitz, then you’re definitely a Joe.
Like a jollier and less critical version of Statler and
Waldorf, the old guys from The Muppet Show who sit
in the balcony above the stage, Roberts and Zingo are
free-flowing fixtures within the downtown walls they
have called home since opening their doors in 1985.
Before then, the two men ran productions out of
Sheldon High School as well as on the pedestrian mall
that once occupied Broadway and Willamette Street.
Roberts remembers refashioning the old fountain into
a stage and dragging in bleachers for the three shows
they had in rotation.
One afternoon, the two went out for lunch down the
street to what used to be Seymour’s Café.
“We looked at each other and said, ‘This would be a
wonderful dinner theater if it’s ever available,’” Zingo
recalls.
It would be another decade before they would turn
it into the half-cabaret, half-dinner-theater cauldron of
costumes it is today.
DEMOS
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