InTouch with Southern Kentucky March 2020 | Page 12

LOCAL ARTISTS
B ack
in the
S potlight
Artists in the Spotlight: Veteran director
Cleberg enjoys return to the local stage
BY CHRISTOHPER HARRIS
COMMONWEALTH JOURNAL
It had been 14 years since Steve
Cleberg has been on a stage, per-
forming.
The longtime director of Somer-
set Community College’s Theatre &
Film program, Cleberg has directed
countless plays over the years —
but for the last decade-and-a-half,
he stayed in the shadows, watching
from the rafters as the actors in
his charge took to the Stoner Little
Theatre stage below.
12 • I n T ouch with S outhern K entucky 
However, with Flashback Theater
Co.’s latest production — Tom Stop-
pard’s comedic stab at Shakespeare,
“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are
Dead” — Cleberg trod the boards
once more last month.
“The process has certainly been
invigorating,” said Cleberg. “The
role of Guildenstern is perhaps the
largest role I’ve ever had, in terms
of line load, so it was a challenge
for this rusty old actor. There were
times that I wondered if I’ll ever be
able to pull it together.”
Fortunately, he received words
of encouragement from a familiar
place — “Rosencrantz and Guilden-
stern” director Jade Ellis. As it so
happened, Ellis was one of Cleberg’s
former students at SCC — in fact,
the last time Cleberg acted in one
of his show’s it was Shakespeare’s
“The Tempest,” in which Cleberg
played Propspero and Ellis Caliban.
This time around, however, it was
Ellis sitting in the director’s chair.
“Jade told me that I should take
the advice that her director always
gave her to trust the work and
have fun,” said Cleberg. “My former
student using my own words to give
me assurance. It doesn’t get better
than that.
M arch 2020