By Ron Hellman
Bernie Bosio is taking the plunge. Or so he claimed when we got together recently at my Douglaston law office, where we used to hold Outrageous Fortune Company auditions, barely tolerated by my attorney colleagues, even though I assured them that lawyers and actors have a lot in common.
Bernie and I had our meeting April 1, but I don’t think he was fooling when he told me that he’s now engaged to be married some time in 2014. Not remarkable you say, especially with the growing acceptance of same-sex marriage, so why shouldn’t an opposite-sex guy get married too? But Bernie is 50-something and this is the first time that he’ll be tying the knot. The lucky and apparently convincing lady, by the way, is the singer Valerie G. Keane.
However, what you should really know about Bosio is that he’s one of the most sought after actors and directors in local theater. He has close ties with Brooklyn’s The Heights Players, where he recently directed the popular comedy “Run For Your Wife.” His resume includes credits with lots of other theater companies, most notably the Parkside Players (Forest Hills) and the Phoenix Players (College Point).
Bosio is a Queens’ native, living for many years in Middle Village, and is a customer engineer (whatever that is) for AT&T. He first got interested in theater as a student at Christ The King high school when he saw a production of one-acts and said, “I can do that.” And so he has for over 30 years.
With Outrageous Fortune, Bosio showed off his comic talents in “All in the Timing,” by David Ives, and his directorial skills in our last season – or maybe just our latest one — in “Dean Man’s Cell Phone,” by Sarah Ruhl. His most recent dramatic role was in the Phoenix production of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale.” “As long as I’ve been doing this,”, he said, “I still feel anxious, because I know I can always do better.” His favorite play is the constantly performed “Arsenic and Old Lace” — he’s done it five times in three different roles.
The other thing to know about Bosio is that he deals with a major disability — he’s had progressive hearing loss since the age of 10, and suffers from tinnitus (hearing a sound where none exists). He now wears hearing aids in both ears and is an accomplished lip reader. But none of this has slowed him down, and you wouldn’t know he had a problem if you spent any time with him. On stage the only thing he has to worry about is working up a sweat and short-circuiting his hearing system.
A group that Bosio has worked with, the Rockaway Theatre Company, for which he directed “Noises Off,” by Michael Frayn — has fallen on hard times, a victim of Superstorm Sandy. Some years ago the group took over the abandoned movie theater at Fort Tilden, and with a little money and a lot of hard work created an excellent venue for plays and musicals. Last month they presented “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at a church in Howard Beach to raise funds for hurricane relief expenses. If you want to help Rockaway restore its space, contact them at RockawayTheatreCo@nyc.rr.com.
Thalia Spanish Theatre has a bilingual puppet musical for children this Sunday, April 14, at 3 p.m., and you may still be able to enroll in its Saturday morning children’s workshop; call (718) 729-3880 for the details. And call Theatre Time Productions at (347) 358-8102 for tickets for its musical cabaret (April 13 toApril 28) at the Colonial Church of Bayside.
Contact Ron Hellman at RBH24@Columbia.edu.
