Falling Into Theatre. . .and Finding Myself: A Memoir (SIGNED COPY)
by: Robert Cohen

Softcover. McKinleyville CA, Fithian Press/, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 238 pages, b&w illustrations. INSCRIBED BY COHEN on the front fly leaf. Robert Cohen is the founding Chair of Drama a the University of California, Irvine, and has written 20 book on theatre. In this memoir, he recounts the "lucky breaks" that took him from being a college student preparing for law school to a long career as a man of the theatre. The first lucky break took place in his junior year of high school when Judy Berkenbilt asked him to be in "Belles On Their Toes," a play she was directing. She wanted to cast him as a policeman but after reading the script, Cohen asked for the role as the family handyman, which she agreed to. He identifies Lucky Break #2, in the same year, as ending up in a Vocational Typing class when he transferred out of the Mechanical Drawing class to escape a creepy instructor. He became a fabulous typist and was able to earn lunch money in college by typing papers for other students. Lucky Break #3 was getting into the 12th grade Advanced English class taught by Miss Casey, which advanced his intellectual development and reading "like crazy." Lucky Break #6 was being asked to take over as coach of the swimming program at the camp where he was a counselor. When Cohen did not have the $20 needed to to get a Water Safety Instructor certification, the camp owner asked him take over the drama program instead. And so on.