The Pride - Archbishop Rummel High School

Genesian Players
Mr. G embodies the Genesian Players
Back in 1963
during the
school’s first
academic year,
a very young
man directed a
one-act play in
the Archbishop
Mr. Chuck Guajardo, c.1964.
Rummel
gymnasium for the student body.
The man was new teacher Charles
Guajardo and the production was
“Minor Miracle.” His production
was so well received by students and
teachers alike that he formed a drama
club for the brand new school and
called the group the Genesians. The
name was eventually changed to the
Genesian Players.
Fast forward to 45 years later and
Director Chuck Guajardo is still
director of his Genesian Players having
directed almost 200 school plays for
Archbishop Rummel. His numerous
high school, college, and professional
thespians around the world share the
history of his Archbishop Rummel
drama organization today.
“Back in my sophomore year, I
became involved with the Genesians
by participating in a speech contest,
which was included in Genesian
activities. I got to know Mr. Guajardo
through those contests and then
one day he asked that I audition for
an upcoming production of ‘Julius
Caesar’,” said Spencer Harris, ’67.
He said that when the cast was
announced, Mr. Guajardo gave him
the Julius Caesar role in the play.
Harris continued, “I was shocked. I
had a leading role and I had not yet
reached puberty, and Lee Martiny was
cast as Mark Antony and his voice was
even higher than mine.”
Since the school had no permanent
location for Genesian Players
productions, the plays in the early
1960s were staged at the downtown
Civic Theater in the CBD or at East
Jefferson High School. At those
venues, more difficulties resulted
because the Genesians had to hire a
union orchestra for plays at the Civic
Theater.
“The Rummel community really
endorsed and supported those early
plays and all performances at the huge
Civic Theater were sold out regularly,”
Harris said.
Spencer Harris, ‘67, and the
cast from “Julius Caesar”
This ’67 alum gives total credit for
the Genesian Players’ success to Mr.
G. Harris said Mr. Guajardo could
act, could dance, and could sing,
so he held summer classes for his
drama students where they learned
techniques of performance.
“It was like spring football training
but for us, it was summer training for
theater,” he said.
Harris remembers today his
amazement at the organization and
structure of the Genesian Players back
in the 60s. “I reflect how organized
and mature the students were back
then. Mr. G would tell us ‘we have
to build this’ or ‘we must design this’
and the students would just get up
and do it. I was just in awe at how Mr.
Guajardo could get his actors to work
so well every day,” Harris remembers.
The nickname, Mr. G, came from
Michael Livaudais, ’66, who was
the Genesian Players’ first president.
Now a Christian Brother and drama
director at Christian Brothers High
School in Memphis, Tennessee,
Brother Michael said the now-famous
Mr. G nickname “was probably a
combination of the old Hollywood
tradition of naming someone by
initials and the Gee whiz! we all felt
in admiration of Chuck and of being
in the presence of such happiness and
creativity.”
Livaudais remembers the early days
when he first learned about the
Players. “Some friends of mine were
moving lumber and scenery in the
afternoon one day after school. They
asked for help. Transportation home
after school was not there yet, so I
helped out. The friendship and fun the
group seemed to have even in doing
grunt work, like moving supplies, was
infectious. They seemed happy and
really enjoyed being and working
together,” he said.
Livaudais said that the enthusiasm and
fun that he noticed right away among
the students was underscored when he
met Mr. Guajardo.
“The students enjoyed their connection
and their work, and Mr. Guajardo
seemed to enjoy and care about us. I
found new friends, a way to spend
some ‘empty’ time, and some real
pride in what we accomplished
together,” Livaudais said.
He continued, “When I first started
working with the Genesians, I did
technical work. We did not have our
own theatre in those days and had
to find other performance places for
our shows. I remember trying to get
a rather antiquated lighting system
to work at Ursuline’s gym—the kind
with a stage stuck on one end of it.
I was completely happy doing tech
work and had no desire to move from
backstage to performance.”
A young Livaudais quickly moved
from the sound stage to center stage at
Mr. Guajardo’s insistence. He explains,
“His encouragement is what made me
dare to try out for a role. Small ones
at first and then larger ones as my
confidence grew: a tiny role in ‘Song
of Bernadette,’ ‘Julius Caesar,’ ‘All The
Way Home,’ ‘Once Upon A Mattress’,
and ‘Brigadoon.’ I was fascinated by
the entire creative process and Mr. G
seemed to embody that for all of us.”
Livaudais remembers that the
Genesians spent untold hours together
working on shows and in each other’s
company. They did not mind a bit; a
real family environment was created.
And they were constantly learning.
“We traveled downtown to local movie
shoots and watched and learned. We
created, solved problems, and met
challenges we had no idea we could
handle. Mr. G was the inspiration
“The Odd Couple”, Dennis Whittaker (left)
and Matt Borel, 1971
behind all that. Somewhere between
all the exhausting hours, the paintwars,
the cleanup crews, the opening
nights, the frightful auditions, and the
laughter—God, did we laugh!!—we
began to notice our confidence and
self-esteem growing, a buffing down
of our own egos and a shared joy in
each other’s accomplishments, a sense
of belonging that was as strong as any
team or family I knew.
“Minor Miracle”, the very first Genesian production
in the Raider gym.
“I think it was this last realization that
pushed me toward choosing theatre as
one of my three majors in college and
pursuing directing for my M.A. work
at Northwestern University. I have
never regretted it,” Brother Michael
reflected.
Now after 130 plays directed, Director
Livaudais still sees the seeds that
the Genesian Players planted in his
adolescent soul in the 60’s very much
in operation today. He still believes
that involvement in the arts, especially
theatre, since it involves the whole
person, is one of the best ways to
increase confidence and improve
self-esteem for kids in an educational
arena. “Whenever I hear a proud
parent talk today of what our theatre
program at Christian Brothers High
School has done for their child, or
receive a letter from an alum who
names his years of involvement in
theatre and his experience onstage
in high school as some of the most
formative times of his development as
a kid, I am completely aware of how
this was exactly what happened to me
at Rummel, with Mr. G and those first
Genesian Players. And I am grateful.
“In our CBHS program some forty
years later, I still have young actors
circle up before each performance
of our shows for notes and a prayer,
another holdover from those great
years of formation we received under
Mr. G in the Genesian Theater,”
Brother Michael Livaudais remembers.
Another former Genesian and current
Genesian Booster Club member,
Carol Bartels, attended her first
Genesian performance, “Our Town,”
when she was just nine years old. “My
older sisters were highly involved in
the Genesians and they enjoyed it so
much that I wanted to be a member
one day,” Bartels said.
“I want today’s young people to
be able to have the same type of
learning and life experiences the club
provided me. Being a Genesian was
one of the highlights of my high
school experiences. I want this great
opportunity and learning experience
to continue for today’s students.” The
success of the Genesians comes from
Mr. G’s many talents and his devotion
to the students, a devotion that
continues long after graduation,” she
said.
As the archivist for the Genesian
Booster Club, she hopes to keep the
traditions alive by maintaining the
old programs, photographs, slides,
and other Genesian memorabilia.
She added that her nephew, Brian
Comiskey, an Archbishop Rummel
senior, is following the family tradition
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