Chances are, you have seen Rick Fountain's work at Playhouse on Park or at home in your living room, or both. Mr. Fountain is a featured performer at Playhouse on Park and also maintains our website.
His diversity has landed him roles like Mouse in "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" and Amos Hart in "Chicago." A role he singles out as his favorite. He also performs with stop/time Dance Theater and he admits "Every show becomes a favorite."
By day Mr. Fountain uses his degree in Computer Science and his background in the HR information systems to work at The Hartford, supporting the company's Learning Management System, which is a tool that all employees use to register for and track courses. "I also give tours of the home office to new hires once a month. Being a tour guide is my dream job, so it's nice to get paid for it." He also gets involved in the creative aspects of company-wide initiatives, using his both his creative and technical skills.
By night, he's a triple threat, a seasoned and talented actor, singer and dancer. Mr. Fountain started acting in high school, he was the president of his drama club in his senior year and sang in the concert choir and started dancing in college, performing in shows at the University of Hartford "I didn't perform for a number of years after that, until I started auditioning for community theater. I First worked with the Mark Twain Masquers and has been doing shows ever since."
Enter the partnership of Rick Fountain and Playhouse on Park. "I have known Darlene Zoller for twenty years and have taken dance classes with her and been in shows she has choreographed." Having performed at the Park Road Playhouse, he was already familiar with the space. "When Darlene, Tracy Flater and Sean Harris took the reins, I found myself painting the dressing rooms, so I guess you could say I've been there since the beginning."
His performance talents are not just limited to the stage, he has performed at A.C. Petersens Main Stage Monday and is a regular at Falcetti Friday, a weekly, informal cabaret at Falcetti Music in Blue Back Square from 5:30 to 7:30. He credits that weekly singing with helping to keep his voice in shape. "I also sing in the choir at St. Peter Claver church in West Hartford."
Of course such success is hard work. Take for example the Playhouse on Park website, a website that is always changing, shows and casts come and go, special events pop up and need to be promoted, this requires a lot of updates to the site, especially with season number five fast approaching "When a new season is announced, which is happening about now, there are lots of new pages that need to be created and menus to update in order to present all the new season information. That's the biggest effort of the year."
The hard work continues on the performance side, there is the never ending task of auditioning, then if you get cast, the rehearsals and of course the culmination, the performances themselves. Enter the classic actor's nightmare, going blank. The lines you memorized sometimes suddenly jump ship from your brain. "I had a terrifying experience in a show where I forgot my lines in this one scene. I had done the show a few times already, so I knew them somewhere in my brain." Mr. Fountain admits to being "mortified" as he went off stage. "Of course no one in the audience knew and the pause wasn't nearly as long as my terror magnified it to be."
His dedication to the craft pays off with a great cast. "The best experiences for me are when I'm in a cast where everyone becomes such a team of close friends, all rooting for one another. No egos, just a genuine love for each other and respect for what everyone brings to the table." It also can pay off with the audience. "The other best experience, I think for any performer is knowing the audience is with you and giving you such support, love and hopefully, applause."
Then there's always the fun fan experiences, in particular after a children's show, such as the aforementioned "If You Give a Mouse A Cookie" when the cast greeted the children in the lobby. "The kids want your autograph and are just so sweet." A well produced show can leave an indelible mark in your mind. "I met one of the moms after this year's stop/time show and she told me how her daughter still talks about that show. Those are the experiences that make you smile and reward you with knowing that what you do impacts someone else." On a personal note, I thoroughly enjoyed that show and wish they'd return it to the stage, if for only a weekend and only if Rick Fountain and Kevin Barlowski reprise their roles of Mouse and Boy...Just sayin'
When asked about other shows Mr. Fountain would like to see Playhouse on Park produce "Well you know you can't ask that question without getting a suggestion that wouldn't include me!" He goes on to mention the following musicals: "Avenue Q", "Sweeney Todd", "Forever Plaid, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" He adds "I have also been told that the two person chamber musical 'The Story of My Life' has a great role for me, so let's just put that out there in the universe."
Mr. Fountain, a mild mannered IT Guy and tour guide by day, an unstoppable source of entertainment by night. All of it wrapped in to an affable man, for whom you'd gladly give the shirt off your back, if he asked you for it, and he has.
Needing a black shirt to wear for one Main Stage Monday at A.C. Petersens. Cut to me entering the playhouse that night, wearing a black shirt. That one Monday night, Mr. Fountain sang an strolled throughout the restaurant singing as good as he always does and dressed as sharp as ever. A couple days later the shirt was returned washed and ready to wear. That's just the sort of things you do for friends.
Five years from now, his daughter will just be graduating from college. He plans to continue working at the Hartford and hopes to still have opportunities to perform and travel. "Those are two of my passions."
Perhaps ten years from now when they are remaking "Les Miserables" he could play the role of Javert. When asked about what movie role you would have done a better job than who was actually cast, that one was a "No brainer. But who couldn't have done a better job."
This was a glimpse in to the life of Rick Fountain, and whatever he is doing, five, ten, fifteen, twenty and many more years from now he'll be doing it with the same level of excellence he has brought to everything he's done thus far. Stay tuned and sing along!
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