Director began love of theater with dare

Challenging friends to dares, double dares and even triple-dog dares reigns as a schoolyard staple for earning peer respect. For the Bloomington Playwrights Project's Richard Perez, a dare even led to his life's work -- theater.\n"It gave me a voice at that point in my life when I felt I didn't have one," he said of the impact his beginning days in theater had on him.\nAn actor, director, teacher and now producing artistic director at the BPP, Perez first took a theater class on a dare he proposed to his younger brother as an upperclassman in his high school north of San Francisco. Perez said he knew subconsciously he was interested in theater but needed a specific reason to take the class. The dare provided that opportunity. \nInspired, he left California after graduation to study acting in New York. He now lives in Bloomington, which he has called home for four years. \nPerez describes the BPP as a way to help new plays and playwrights.\n"In a business that always forgets about it, you have to infuse theater with new blood," Perez said.\nPerez started as "new blood" at the BPP four years ago as a volunteer, following the dream of owning his own theater company. When the former producing artistic director left, Perez applied for and took the position.\nAs producing artistic director, Perez's responsibilities are numerous. He does everything from choosing shows and reading new plays to hiring new talent and promoting the BPP's ideas to other theater companies nationwide.\n"Some people say I do nothing," he said jokingly, drawing laughs from two of his colleagues working at desks nearby.\nThe BPP kicked off the 2006-07 season -- "one of the best seasons we've ever put together," Perez said in September with "Border Lines," a festival of plays by Hispanic writers.\nBreshaun Joyner, the BPP's education director, said audience response and turnout for the show was successful, particularly because the audience was encouraged to take part in the performance and interact with the performers on stage.\n"When the audience gets permission to call out to the performers, they definitely go for it," she said.\nThe season continued this weekend with "Boomer," an autobiographical improvisational movement show performed by Nell Weatherwax. Perez said he was impressed by the show and the audience's reaction to it.\n"It was a wonderful turnout, and the response was very positive," he said.\n"Arrangement for Two Violas," a play detailing the two male doctors' relationship, set in 1938, will be the next show for the BPP and will be directed by Perez. It runs Nov. 2-18.\n"We are always looking for plays with purpose, plays that tell a story and make a point without hitting the audience over the head with it," Perez said in a BPP press release. "At its heart, this play is a love story between two men, and the bias toward that sort of relationship in that period of time."\nAlthough Perez's influence on the choice of shows is important, he said volunteers make a large impact on the organization as a whole.\n"Volunteers are crucial to the day-to-day operation of the organization," he said.\nPerez counts volunteer Sonja Johnson as one of the biggest influences in his career. He said Johnson, a full-time volunteer, also serves as director of development.\n"She constantly reminds me what it is to have integrity," Perez said.\nPerez's co-workers are equally quick to praise him. Rachael Himsel, the BPP's public relations director, said she admires many of his qualities but especially his passion for theater.\n"He loves the process of directing and the process of creating a play," Himsel said. "(Perez is) really dedicated to doing theater that matters"