Dean Curtis is adding actor to his list of new things to try since retiring from the Guelph Fire Department after 30 years.
He retired as platoon chief last week. Aside from a couple plays he was in during high school and a bit of background acting in film and TV, he has no previous experience with acting.
He and his wife enjoy theatre and support the local theatre scene. When he was creating a list of things he wanted to do in retirement, acting was one of them. Six months before he retired he sat in on a reading of The President's Under Where? at the Guelph Little Theatre and enjoyed it so much he wanted to be a part of it. He auditioned and got a role.
Curtis isn’t unfamiliar with trying new things. For six years he competed in heavy events for highland games. He was a bass guitar player in a fire hall band. He started and sold a variety of businesses. One of which was a tape and CD business he started at 17-years-old.
At the same age he was a volunteer firefighter in Arthur, where he grew up. He worked with his dad, Henry, at the Arthur Fire Department and years down the line Curtis’ son, Noah, would work there too.
Curtis moved to Guelph right after he graduated from Seneca College from its fire protection engineering and technology program. He started off as a dispatcher and within a couple months he was hired as a firefighter at the Guelph Fire Department.
“I can feel the adrenaline hit when I’m getting on stage. The adrenaline is there when you’re going to fires and situations like that,” said Curtis.
As a platoon chief he’s used to speaking in front of crews. He knew getting on stage to perform in the Guelph Little Theatre production was going to be intimidating. “It was a little scary, and that's why I wanted to do it. I wanted to kind of beat that fear a little bit,” he said.
He’s the type of person who gives it his all and sees things through. His heart would beat fast before the curtain pulled back but he was ready to get on stage and have a successful show. In some ways it was similar to giving it his all fighting fires. “You come back from after a fire call and you've done what you can to save the person, save the building,” said Curtis.
The greatest challenge he has faced so far when it comes to acting is his age. He’s 52 and most people his age who are actors have been doing it for decades and aren’t new to the industry like him. It also means there are less roles available so instead of a main character he auditions for a role of a dad.
“I don't have any delusions that I'm going to be the next star in a big movie,” he said. If he is able to score a lead role in local theatre and have people be genuinely impressed by his performance, then his goal would be reached.
Building relationships with the cast of the last play he was in was something he appreciated and wants to support them in their work moving forward.
When it came to his retirement he thinks about the last 30 years he spent with his crew. They were like a second family. It was strange for him to not have that anymore and to feel it as he was stepping out on his last day with a tote filled with his belongings and the door closing behind him.
Whenever he and his wife drive by a fire station he jokes to her that he used to work there.
Acting is part of the next phase of his life. He believes life is too short and people only live so many productive years so he wants to make the most of it.