By Ric Oliveira, Standard-Times staff writer
FALL RIVER -- At 82, Leo
Strickman can serve better than some half his age. The Bristol Community College tennis
instructor doesn't spend all his time on the courts. Often he's right in a front
row seat. Mr. Strickman is
director of Bishop Connolly High's Drama Club. And while he's at it, he has time
to pull a shift as director and producer of the Fall River Little Theatre.
While it appears there is
little in common between Mr. Strickman's two passions, he thinks otherwise.
"Tennis and drama keep me
young," he said. "It is all part of keeping your body and mind active." Mr.
Strickman, who also is the tennis coach at Bishop Connolly, has been involved in
theater and tennis since he was 14. For the past 10 years, he has given tennis
lessons at BCC to youngsters and adults. "I love it," he said. "I love to pass
on my knowledge and experience to young people." Part of that experience comes in the
form of three words: "poise, projection and confidence," he said. But he was not always so direct. As a
boy he was painfully shy. "I
used to avert my head and walk across the street so I would not have to say
hello," he said. "I was that shy." Then acting changed his life. He
learned how to express confidence and to put people at ease with a big, warm
smile. It wasn't long before he applied those skills to business. In 1940, Mr. Strickman moved to Fall
River from New York to work at the Elbe File and Binder Co. as a national sales
manager. In 1941, the company
was sold and he went to work for the Union Book Binding Co. in Boston, where he
stayed until he retired in 1991 at age 76. When he first came to Fall River, he
had heard about Little Theatre. Five years later he became part of the group and
has never left. "The Little
Theatre used to put on plays at any available auditorium in the city," he said.
"They put on plays at the women's club, Temple Bethel auditorium, anywhere we
could." Between 1954 and
1970, when the theatrical company bought The Firebarn, Mr. Strickman worked on
more than 24 productions. In
the early 1960s, he traded in actors' makeup for the director's chair. "It is an evolution; you grow into it.
After you have been an actor for so many years, you want to direct," he said.
But don't ask Mr. Strickman
why he still directs.
"Everyone uses the word 'still,'" he said. "That gets to me. Everybody says you
are 'still' doing this. Why do people use the word 'still?' In this day and age,
people live longer." He has
done his share of fund-raisers. He produced Fall River's most famous
film, written by UMass Dartmouth drama director Angus Bailey. "Below the Hill" was a 1960s look at
the economics of and social life in the poorer sections of Fall River. The film was shown at the Venice Film
Festival in 1965 and was praised by critics everywhere, from The New York Times
to Kenneth Tynan, England's most prominent critic. "I had the largest turnout of
reporters for any film that was shown at the festival," he said. Mr. Strickman currently is working
James Rich's play, "Afraid of the Dark," which will be shown later this month at
Bishop Connolly. "Getting
people into drama, educating people about drama. That is why I am doing this,"
he said from underneath thick brown glasses. "Fall River needs as much culture
as it can get. We all do."
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