For those who have seen a musical on the Harbor over the past year, there is a good chance one Hoquiam resident had a hand in it. Alex Eddy, by day a writing consultant and English tutor at Grays Harbor College, is part of the theater community, just like his grandfather Bud, and father, Jim Eddy, before him.
“I grew up seeing them in plays for Driftwood (Players of Aberdeen) and it was just something I wanted to do,” he said.
Eddy is now working toward being more involved with Driftwood, going beyond writing or playing music. Brad Duffy, who is also a Grays Harbor College instructor and director of the shows at the Bishop Center, is mentoring Eddy to be a Driftwood director. They will be working together on “Calendar Girls,” set to open April 25. Duffy said Eddy is a talented musician and is a dynamic rehearsal pianist.
“I’ve known Alex a long time. I can’t remember not working with him. We keep getting afraid he’ll go away, because he should because he’s so talented,” Duffy said. “But, we don’t want him to leave either! Don’t go away, Alex. At least until we all retire!”
Eddy describes himself as shy, which meant it took a little bit of goading for him to say his lines at age 8 for 7th Street Kids productions. He described Hank Bilderback directing him to stand on stage to practice his one line as the Indian chief in “Peter Pan.” Eddy’s fellow cast-mates sat in the audience as he repeated the line over and over again in growing volume.
“At the end there I was just screaming out this nonsense line into this nearly empty theater,” he said. “In theater, you can still be shy but once you get on stage, you have to get over that. It’s a lesson I never forgot.”
This experience led him to gladly start helping with 7th Street Kids himself. The best part of being part of this program for Eddy is to see the progress kids make.
“It’s awesome to get to see the progress — sometimes from age 9 up to when they graduate high school — of these kids as actors and singers,” he said. “That’s what makes it probably my favorite thing to do.”
He is one of the four directors for the 7th Street Kids’ upcoming musical of “Honk!” which is set to open on Aug. 1.
This fall, a musical he has been working on with Grays Harbor College instructor Lynne Lerych is premiering on the Bishop Center stage. Called “Back in the World,” it follows the story of a soldier returning from Iraq, based off a NPR story about the difficulties of returning home after fighting in a war zone. After years of attempting to write a non-musical version of this play, Lerych realized that her fellow musical nut Eddy, who had first been her student 10 years ago, would be the perfect partner to finish a new version of the story.
“We’ve both been involved in theater and music and theatrical music, both at the Bishop Center and at 7th St., for years,” she said. “I’ve always known that Alex is a great musician, but I’ve only recently come to discover what a solid, powerful composer he is.”
He is writing the music while she is working on the book and lyrics. Duffy will be the director while Eddy is in the pit.
“It’s impossible not to want to do a project with Alex,” Lerych said. “He’s talented, smart, dedicated, energetic, funny and kind. And patient. And brilliant. I’ve always wanted to write the book and lyrics for a musical, and I’m really grateful to have Alex as a writing partner who composes beautiful music.”
Musicals became Eddy’s passion while attending the Evergreen State College for a bachelor’s in music competition. He became enthralled with Broadway playwright Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” for an Ethnomusicaology course.
“It was this course that ended up changing my focus to writing musicals, and, to this day, if you ask my friends about me, the first thing most of them would say is that I have a little bit of an obsession with Sondheim,” he said.
Someday he hopes to make it to New York University for the musical writing program.
While at Evergreen, Eddy played rehearsal piano for Capital High School.
“This was my first experience working on anything outside of the Harbor and really helped me gain confidence in my abilities,” he said.
Earlier this month, Eddy accepted Aberdeen High School’s award for Best Lighting for the Aberdeen High School’s musical “Aida” at the 5th Avenue Awards Ceremony for theater arts. He worked on it with Tamara Helland, the musical’s director, who was thrilled for a win.
In his spare time, Eddy spends time with friends, enjoys cooking and also reads. He is currently on the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series.
“They are really, really thick books but I just have to know what happens before the show gets to it,” he said.
Friends are also a large part of his life, though he admits they usually heckle him for not seeing them more. The next few months will not be restful for Eddy, with plenty of “Chicago” practices until opening night on July 24, then evening practices of “Honk!”, and then hours of mentoring at Driftwood and finishing “Back In the World” to fill out the rest of the year.
“It’s exciting but also a little scary because it feels like we just started working on it,” he said. “It’s been a fantastic experience and I’m excited to get to see the show come to life.”
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