From the Portage Daily Register

The Natural: After 25 years, veteran APT actor Paul Bentzen has survived snakes, tornadoes and bad puns
	Paul Bentzen is known as the company naturalist for American Players Theatre. Bentzen is celebrating his 25th year on the APT stage this year with the opening of "The Merchant of Venice" June 22.

When Paul Bentzen drove to rehearsal one day with a bull snake coiled around his arm and blood dripping from his hand he never once broke character -- he was just being his curious self.

The woods surrounding the American Players Theatre stage is home to many performers, both furry and winged, and Bentzen has gotten to know many of them personally over the years, like a snake he picked up for fun.

"I chased him into the brush and grabbed it. He nailed me about three or four times," he said, demonstrating how he drove the rest of the way to work with the snake wrapped tightly around him.

While he may be known as the acting company's naturalist and pun master, Bentzen is a memorable face to American Player audiences for most of its existence. He first took the stage in "King John" in 1981 when the theater was somewhat primitive, with the backstage area a playground for raccoons.

"You would put on your shoes and go, 'what the heck is that,' because it's full of acorns," Bentzen said.

While the American Players season kicks off tonight with a preview of "Much Ado About Nothing," Bentzen will mark his 25th year June 22 in "The Merchant of Venice."

He may be one of the few actors in the state to survive tornadoes, snakebites and cheesy lines in B-horror movies to become a beloved classical actor — even if he doesn't look at himself that way.

Chemistry

During award ceremonies actors often thank those who have helped them along the way, listing classical learning institutions and acting teachers. For Bentzen, the top of his list would include a science teacher and an old record.

As a teen, Bentzen thought he would act on his love of the outdoors and become a zoologist, but his difficulties in math quickly proved to be a hurdle.

"I had a chemistry teacher in high school who said, 'Bentzen, I'll make you a deal. I'll pass you in chemistry if you don't take physics from me.'"

So when he graduated in his hometown of Stevens Point, he looked to the university system there to give him guidance in theater and speech, having picked those almost out of the blue.

"I had no theater in high school to speak of. It was all math and science. If you wanted to do anything theatrical you had to do it guerilla style and disrupt class," he said, joking that it wasn't sanctioned.

Bentzen's first speaking part in college landed him a best supporting actor award and cemented his idea for a career.

He didn't have the classical background, but Richard Burton would help him with that. Well, not Burton directly. Bentzen owned a record of "Scenes from Hamlet" in which he listened to Burton over and over again until he could perform the scene himself.

In the early '70s Bentzen took another direction when he met Bill Rebane who was making B-horror pictures in the northern part of the state.

One of the more cult classics was "The Giant Spider Invasion," in which a black hole hits Northern Wisconsin and opens a door to another dimension. But the door that the film really opened for Bentzen was getting a Screen Actors Guild card out of it.

It also helped set off a chain of events that led him to the Milwaukee Repertory Theater and an audition at the Guthrie Theatre. He soon was asked to audition at a place near Spring Green that had one year under its belt.

"It turns out they were looking for someone in my age range who plays character parts," he said.

Bentzen was unsure if American Players would be a one-shot deal. He had heard press about the place, but thought it may not be what he was looking for.

But he was taken aback by the scenery and the amount of people who were coming to shows. Soon he was doing a form of Pilates in a farm house with no air conditioning with the rest of the cast.

In his first play, Bentzen found himself playing the role of king, opposite co-founder Randall Kim, who was a powerful presence on stage.

"Paul wasn't getting it," said Jonathan Smoots, an original member of APT who spoke the first words on the stage. "And I think he was intimidated."

One thing an actor can't do is act like a king, Smoots said, he has to be a king.

"Paul came to rehearsal in his bathrobe," Smoots said, adding that the bathrobe filled him with power and charisma.

By the end of the year, Bentzen was assured he would be a company member for life and there was talk of touring in Hawaii.

He would return in 1983 and meet his significant other, Maggie Frede, who was working in costumes.

Nature's call

On a wall in the offices at American Players Theatre is a bulletin board filled with bugs stuck to pieces of paper with an identification next to each one.

But if there is something bigger than a bug that comes into play for the actors, there is only one person to call for help.

Sarah Day, who has been with the company since 1986, found this out one day after rehearsal when she was walking off stage.

"I was walking from the stage to the back stage, and I felt something nipping at my heel," she said.

"Get me Bentzen!" Day said, recalling the moment. "Get me Paul Bentzen. I have just been bitten by a snake."

Bentzen came over to find a harmless grass snake, assuring Day that if it had been poisonous she would be dead by now.

But it's Bentzen's time on stage that Day admires more than his nature skills as the two have even played husband and wife.

"Paul is a wonderful actor to work opposite of," she said, admitting his humor can rub off, catching herself slipping more puns into her vocabulary when they work together.

Nature's chance to join a show also comes in the form of bad weather that can make an office scene with rain hard to pull off.

"The elements can aspire with you as much as they can against you," Bentzen said.

"This is completely insane to me. I'm an outdoor person, I like the outdoors, but I didn't know necessarily the outdoors and theater actually mix."

In 1984, Bentzen witnessed his first tornado at APT and described the actors' mad dash for cover as a scene from an old movie with high-arm swings and lots of facial expressions.

Finding home

One of the great pluses for Bentzen is being around young actors who come through the company with great energy.

But he doesn't envy a young actor's life of having to run around trying to find work in an industry where unemployment is ridiculously high.

And then there are actors like himself who come to Spring Green and get sucked in and stay, he said.

"Actors can own homes, have families and kids like normal people?" he said. "It's a tough business, hard on relationships, it's hard on all that kind of stuff. But here it seems possible."

Bentzen may get recognized when he travels to Madison on occasion, but it's the small town of Spring Green that has truly adopted him. There's even a Paul Bentzen Day at the Spring Green Cafe and General Store.

Todd Miller, who owns the cafe, said they held a 50th birthday bash for Bentzen a dozen years ago, and have made it an annual event. Bentzen even helps make his famous jambalaya and plays some bluegrass with about 40 musicians who attend.

Each year, acting parts are a little harder to find, Bentzen said, especially for someone who has played older men his whole life. But his lighter schedule this year -- he's in three plays -- will allow him to take on other projects, possibly in New York where Maggie is currently working.

"You want to truly make a living doing something you love and that's rare. It's rare in life," he said. "And I never take that for granted, and I'm thankful for it everyday."

■ Paul Bentzen: Bentzen will be in "The Merchant of Venice," "The Night of the Iguana," and "Timon of Athens".

The Natural: After 25 years, veteran APT actor Paul Bentzen has survived snakes, tornadoes and bad puns

Chemistry

Nature's call

Finding home