Ralph Senensky

"In 1991 I decided to stop in Carmel on my way back from visiting family in the Bay Area. I had never been here before. I was here for three days. I stayed at the Wayside Inn. I knew no one. I went to the Aquarium, visited Point Lobos, and walked the beach. I went home to LA and contacted a real estate agent. My friends in LA thought I had completely gone off the deep end. But less than ten months later I moved to Carmel and have never looked back. In fact, I have only been back to LA once." This in a nutshell recounts the love-at-first-sight visit to Carmel that prompted Ralph Senensky, a director of more than two hundred successful television shows, to abandon LaLa Land and become a Carmelite.

ACCOMPLICE Magic Circle Center

During the following decade, he made new friends, traveled to Europe, became a computer aficionado, and welcomed visits by his friends made during his thirty-eight years in Los Angeles. A year and a half ago Elsa Con was in rehearsal for ACCOMPLICE and found herself without a director. Jack Stauffer, a long time television performer, was one of the actors in ACCOMPLICE. He had worked in shows directed by Ralph and managed to entice him out of retirement. Ralph took over the direction of ACCOMPLICE, which turned out to be one of the most exciting shows performed on the Peninsula during the 2000 Season. Recently Carey Crockett was able to acquire Ralph’s services to direct a Unicorn Theatre, production, RANDY'S HOUSE

RANDY'S HOUSE, written by John Clum, a drama professor at Duke University in North Carolina, opens at the Cherry Center on November 22nd. This play dramatizes the dangers that any kind of phobia can cause among the members of a family, a town, or society in general. While the play presents the harmful effects of the anti-gay attitudes of a small southern town, it is not a "gay play" per se. More specifically, it demonstrates the harm inherent in bigotry and reluctance to respect the beliefs of others. Currently in rehearsal, under the direction of Senensky (a soft-spoken, energetic elfin octogenarian) the cast of RANDY'S HOUSE is rapidly perfecting the persona of two families devastated by misunderstanding, lack of tolerance, and the events occurring in the lives of their teenage sons.

STAR TREK “This Side of Paradise” March 1967 - directed by Ralph Senensky

Far from the sets of "Star Trek," "Dynasty," "The Rookies," "Mission Impossible" and "The Fugitive," Senensky still works the same magic in aiding local actors such as Bob Colter, Garland Thompson, MaryAnn Schaupp - naming a few - to probe their inner core and render highly emotional performances. Although his major successes were as a television director, Senensky began as stage director. High school drama experiences are often joked about in "this is your life" types of stories, but in Ralph's case it is an actuality. During his senior year at high school in Iowa, he auditioned for a role in a play. He was not cast in the role, but did become the teacher's assistant. As it turned out, a student dropped out of the production resulting in Ralph being an actor, as well as assistant director. Myrtle Oulman, the drama teacher and a graduate of Yale Drama School, recognized Ralph's potential. During his freshman year in junior college, she hired him as her assistant, thus, providing part of his college tuition. She told him, "You could be a director." At the time he responded, "Oh, I could never do that," but four years and a World War later, he took advice.

In the mid-fifties he directed a Morgan Theater production of DEATH OF A SALESMAN with Dick Sargent (Elizabeth's Montgomery's husband on "Bewitched") playing Biff, as well as a Pasadena Playhouse production of THE CIRCLE with Estelle Winwood. There are forty-seven other plays, not

“The Waltons” with Beulah Bondi

mentioned here, plus a black Walton-type family drama, "A Dream for Christmas," a made for television movie. And of course, there are his numerous episodes of "The Waltons," directing "the incomparable Beulah Bondi" (his exact words) for which she won an Emmy. The Emmy is now proudly displayed in the multi-media room of Ralph's Carmel home. As stated earlier, the credit list of television shows directed by Ralph is extensive and would entail another column to this article. So they will go unnamed. But suffice it to say, during any given month, television viewers on the Monterey Peninsula can enjoy viewing reruns of one or more shows directed by Ralph Senensky. Fortunately, in November and December, Peninsula theater-goers will be able to view a "live production" directed by Ralph Senensky. Furthermore, local actors and actresses who are cast in upcoming Unicorn plays will have a unique opportunity to enhance their skills under his direction. So, watch for the audition notices in future editions of Back Stage.