A native Oregonian, Debby grew up in Corvallis where her interest in theater started in high school. A sports jock wannabe born a generation too late for any opportunities, theater became her calling as she continued on at the University of Oregon majoring in theater. Well, actually it had to be a speech degree, but she never really took any speech classes and filled her time with acting. It was there that her tenuous but unremitting thread to WYMPROV! was formed as she shared the stage in 1974 with fellow WYMP! Sally Sheklow in that stunning (if not quite award winning) production of "The Tortoise and the Hare" as she portrayed Mrs. Mubble the Frog to Sally’s spider.
Moving on to the mandatory post-college European experience, Debby spent the next year and some in London, England where she took a summer course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (highlighted by getting Diana Rigg’s autograph), became a street musician for a few months (highlighted by spending her last pence on one of Marlene Deitrich’s last live cabaret shows) and then became an au pair (highlighted by her first....well never mind). Deciding to return to the warm and exciting confines of the city of Eugene, Oregon, the next twenty years are something of a blur (highlighted by practicing Buddhism).
Debby embarked on a career of trying to pay the rent, highlighted at last by a job at her old alma mater, the University of Oregon. As a program advisor, Debby advises students in the concert and programming business (highlighted by surviving a mosh pit and university politics - barely). During a university concert, a certain radio DJ was introducing the band, none other than Enid Lefton, girlfriend to a certain person she had acted with so many years ago, Sally (the spider) Sheklow. Having been aware of Sally’s "The Sound of Lesbians" show, Debby asked Enid to pass along to Sally that a certain frog actress was interested in doing some theater again. The rest, as they say, is history.
P.S. Yes, it is true that Debby was the one who swore she would never perform without a script, and that she thought the improv games were simply the warm-ups. But once she realized that you can’t make a mistake because there are no lines to screw up, she was sold, and her frog days were behind her. And now you know the rest of the story.
