I finally have a chance to write my biography and so forth as you requested when I saw you at Dot's party. Sorry that it's taken me so long, but my winter has proved much more complicated than I anticipated! But things are more or less under control now; I've even got a break for the next two weeks, which I can certainly use.

So now I've forgotten what you wanted. But I'll just give you a bunch of material and you can edit it as you like. As you know, I was born and grew up in Guntersville. My family first got to know Dot when she was teaching at the old MCHS, and my sister took several classes with her, including the famous Humanities course. My parents were then in from the start, I believe, when Dot and others started the Teen Club, which of course morphed into the Whole Backstage. My first production was Winnie the Pooh (I was Christopher Robin), which Scot Copeland directed right after the first Camelot. So when was that, 1972? We did it up at the auditorium of MCHS, I suppose not too long before it was torn down. I remember sweeping out the auditorium when we were getting ready for the opening, and sweeping up grapes left over from Camelot! My other favorite memory of that show is that Scot made up a bunch of flyers to advertise the play, and for publicity sent us out to distribute them, in full costume, at the old Hammers's. That caused a few people's eyes to open! People weren't used to those sorts of things back then.

After that the shows came thick and fast, for about ten years. I went off to the Alabama School of Fine Arts for 10th through 12th grades, graduating in 1979. But I generally did shows with the Whole Backstage in the summer as well. The last show I had a part in was the second Camelot, which I think was in 1981; I was in the chorus. And the last show I had anything to do with at all was Hello Dolly, in 1982, when I was on the stage crew and appeared with Vicky in the restaurant scene.

In 1979 I started college at Washington University in St. Louis, and graduated from there in 1984. I took some time off while in college, and also spent a year in England on an exchange program in 1981-2. I then went off to graduate school in classics at Stanford University, and got my PhD in 1990. I was hired by Columbia University, in a non-tenure-track job, and so moved to New York in August of 1990. I spent the next eight years there, apart from a year on a research fellowship in Manchester, England, in 1996-7. In 1998 I got a permanent job at York University in Toronto, Ontario, and received tenure in the summer of 2000. So now it seems that I'm here for the duration, although who knows what will happen. I haven't been on stage for about 20 years now, and don't have any great temptation to do so: my life is busy enough as it is! However, if the right part came along at the right time, I'd probably be tempted: I'd like to play Socrates in Aristophanes' Clouds, for example. I did have a great time doing all those shows, and have many good memories: the discipline and camaraderie were great. As they say, there's no business like show business! But I've also discovered that there's more than a little bit of show business to teaching, so perhaps my performing bug is satisfied in that way.

Let me know if I can fill in any other details. I hope that all is well with you. It was great to see you, and I hope to see you again this summer.

All the best,

James Rives