The performing bug bit Gary Powers early. Born in Pottsville, Pa., in 1957, the fourth of six children, Powers wrote a musical at the age of 8, and told people he wanted to be a movie star when he grew up.
His older brothers were all athletic, and were scouted by Major League Baseball. Powers sat in the stands every summer, cheering them on; he’s still a big baseball fan—but Powers had other talents. Calling Powers his “special son,” his dad took him to singing contests all over the state, which he usually won.
Tragedy struck when Powers was 12: His father suddenly died at the age of 48. Powers said his dad was the center of the family unit, which was basically destroyed when he passed away.
“I’m one of those people who comes across a hurdle or a problem, and I kind of get stuck for a little bit,” Powers said. “Then I ask myself, ‘How do we figure this out?’ So my solution, as a 12-year-old kid, was to find myself another family.”
It was a couple with no children who lived up the street in a brand-new house. They’d been to Europe and taught Powers how to set a table, how to say please and thank you, and so on—things he would not have learned from his own family, he said.
Powers remembered being told, as a kid, “If you’re a good boy, good things will happen to you.”
“So when my father died when I was 12, somehow in my mind, I thought God was punishing me,” he said. “For years, I thought I had killed my father.”
Powers began self-medicating with food. By the time he was 14, he weighed 250 pounds. Then at the age of 17, he added drugs and alcohol to the mix.
Powers made his acting debut in high school in a production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. He played a porter and had only one line—but he was hooked. The school’s drama department recognized his talent and cast him in a number of subsequent productions. At the end of his senior year, he was named Best Actor at the Secondary School Drama Festival in Bucks County, Pa.
Intrigued by the Watergate scandal, Powers studied journalism for two years at Penn State University. He also started a drama club there, organizing tours of shows at local schools, and arranging trips to New York for the club’s members. After receiving a brochure from Emerson College in Boston following his sophomore year, Powers auditioned for the school’s drama department, and received a full scholarship.
“Boston was a great thing for a 19-year-old rural Pennsylvania kid,” he said. “It was at a time when a lot of shows would come through town on their way to Broadway, so I got to see a lot of theater.”
In 1979, Powers graduated with a degree in directing. “I started working at the Colonial Theatre, which is a union house,” he said.
In 1981, John Kander came to the theater with the show Woman of the Year, starring Lauren Bacall.
“I told Kander I was a big fan, and had the chutzpah to ask him how a show changes as it’s going through out-of-town tryouts,” he said. “Kander said, ‘Meet me for breakfast tomorrow at the Park Plaza Hotel, and I’ll tell you.’” They met over the next six weeks.
In 1990, Powers moved to New York—where there would be 5,000 people at auditions rather than the 50 or so he’d compete against in Boston, he said. To pay his bills, Powers began working in box offices, eventually moving up to Broadway theatres. He got to meet and work with folks like Bob Fosse, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn and the Redgrave sisters.
After battling addiction for decades, Powers got sober at 29. He calls it the best thing he’s ever done.
“It’s tough when most of your friends drink. You have to learn how to live life a different way,” he said. “Alcoholism isn’t about alcohol; it’s about all those things you’re trying to obliterate with the booze. When I first went to counseling, the therapist asked me what I was feeling, and I had no idea.”
Though he had great success in New York, Powers began to feel burned out. “The day a homeless woman spit in my face on the subway, I decided it was time to go,” he said.
In 2014, he and his husband, Miguel, a contractor, sold their seven-bedroom Victorian house in Brooklyn and moved to Palm Springs. Miguel has built such a stellar reputation as a home renovator here in the valley that he has a five-year waiting list, Powers said.
During Revolution’s first season, the theater hosted more than 225 performances, sometimes with 12 or 13 shows per week.
Powers joined a writers’ group and got cast in several local shows. He later met the person who would become his business partner, James Owens, and the two took over the space which formerly housed the Desert Rose Playhouse. In the fall of 2023, Revolution Stage Company was born.
They completely renovated the space, added a second dressing room and bought a new sound system. “We’re about breaking the rules and thinking outside the box, including doing performances on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which most theaters here don’t do,” he said. “We’ve really tried to create an off-Broadway type of experience.”
During Revolution’s first season, the theater hosted more than 225 performances, sometimes with 12 or 13 shows per week.
Powers said he and Owens like to try new things and see what works. “As a playwright, I didn’t feel there were a lot of opportunities here to get my work onstage, and I knew that other playwrights felt the same,” he said. “So we created a Ten-Minute Play Festival, which was a huge success.”
Revolution also offers “Piano Riot” on Saturdays, in which local pianists play while audience members sing along, and a competition for local cabaret performers called “Cabaret Riot.” Next season, they’re adding “Comedy Riot” with standup comedians.
Powers is pleased that the people who warned them that they wouldn’t be successful within their first five years were wrong. That said, he does concede that running a successful theater is difficult—especially the fundraising aspect. Thankfully, he can lean on his years of experience, especially in New York, and his attitude.
One thing folks might not know about Powers: He’s a huge roller derby fan—and owns the largest collection of roller derby memorabilia in the world. Seriously.
His philosophy of life? “I believe that when you make a mistake, just admit it and move on,” he said. “Let things go. It’s true that living well is the best revenge. I have such gratitude, and I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
Learn more at www.revolutionstagecompany.com.
Bonnie Gilgallon has written theater reviews for the Independent since 2013. She hosts a digital interview show, The Desert Scene, which can be heard on www.thedesertscene.com and viewed on Mutual Broadcasting’s YouTube channel. Learn more at bonnie-g.com.
Updated on Sept. 4 to correct a typo.