Byron Scott (Scotty”) has been acting and directing at Maplewood for 28 years. He has directed more than a dozen productions, including last summer’s comedy “Moon Over Buffalo.” When the Barn did Oscar Wilde’s classic “Importance of Being Earnest” over a decade ago Scotty was also the director. “Oscar and I are old buddies,” he says. “I love his sarcastic barbs, masked as casual comments.”

Unlike other Barnies, Scotty has never taken a theatre class. Yet he taught theatre overseas when a colleague died unexpectedly at the American University in Bulgaria. For two years he was perhaps the only professor of theatre and journalism in Europe.  Scotty spent 47 years as a journalist and teacher of journalism and is an emeritus professor from the MU School of Journalism,

So, how did theater happen? Sometime in the 1980’s he was picking up two of his children from rehearsal when the director turned and exclaimed: “King Richard!” The next night he was onstage in a production of Robin Hood.  Some 35 years and over 60 productions later, Scotty hopes to start others down that strange and fun-filled path.

You’ve probably guessed that he has a patient wife, Bev.  Together they raised five children (one a professional actor) and they have nine grandchildren.