Steve likes theatre, art, and local history. In his early years he liked going to college.

Steve was born and raised in Sacramento. His father was an attorney; his mother was a homemaker and very active in the visual arts of Sacramento. His parents took him regularly to the theatre starting from about age 6. Primarily they would attend musicals and opera in San Francisco. The first play he remembers seeing was actually at the Outdoor Forest Theater in Carmel - H.M.S. PINAFORE; his family would come to the Peninsula regularly on vacation. Steve took no active part in theatre until his last year of high school.

The first college Steve attended was the University of California at Berkeley. His plan was to become an attorney like his father. He decided to major in speech. While studying for his Masters degree he needed to pick up a three unit course in summer school. The only class that would fit into his schedule was called "Rehearsal and Performance" - a theatre class. He played two small parts in AUNTIE MAME and decided to get his Masters degree in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in directing and playwriting. His plan was still to study law (he explains," I didn't think that a drama background would hurt if you're going to be an attorney"), so he next entered law school at Boult Hall at Berkeley. He describes what he learned, "I discovered that the law school was not training you to serve the client and the community; it was geared toward earning the big buck." Steve left Boult after one semester, spent some time in the military and then returned to Boult to try it one more time. Another semester showed him he had been right to quit the first time, so he decided to enter the University of Iowa to get a PhD in playwriting. That also turned out to be a disaster because during the summer the playwriting faculty that he hoped to study under had all transferred to the University of Southern Illinois. Steve stuck out a year at the University of Iowa and then switched to UCLA to enter a pilot Masters of Fine Arts program. The program consisted of two writers (Steve was one), two actors, and two directors. Steve enjoyed it very much, but it was too geared to the mainstream entertainment industry so Steve, who by now had a wife and child, decided to leave Los Angeles. They first moved to Marin County and eventually settled in Piedmont in the East Bay. Steve became a dealer in rare books and fine arts relating to the history of California. While living in Piedmont Steve was asked to write, produce, direct, and perform in the Piedmont summer pageant for the 1976 Bicentennial. Later that year Steve moved to the Monterey Peninsula.

From 1976 to 1986 Steve was in retirement. Primarily he used the time to try to write novels; he discovered that he could write pretty good plays but was a lousy novelist. In 1987 he took a job at KNRY - a radio station on Cannery Row.

Steve Harris & Ron Genauer in ROSMERSHOLM
Staff Players Repertory Company

Since it was a small station he did almost everything - sales, radio interviews, talk shows relating to theatre, engineer, board operator, etc.. In 1980 he became a docent for the Monterey Museum of Art. In 1988 he was offered a position in security for the museum.

It wasn't until 1981 that Steve stepped on a stage on the Monterey Peninsula. He noticed that the theatre department at Monterey Peninsula College was doing one of his favorite plays, BECKETT. He auditioned and was given three small roles, one being an actual "spear carrier." He didn't perform again until 1986 when an actor friend, Bill Houle, nagged him into auditioning for ANNIE which was being done at the Wharf Theatre. He played in ANNIE and FOLLIES at the Wharf Theater and then moved over to the Outdoor Forest Theater. He tells what follows, " At this point I was getting involved. I did THE MAD WOMAN OF CHAILLOT and then PIPE DREAM at the Outdoor Forest Theater. By that time I had the bug. Since then I guess I've done 40 to 50 shows locally. This includes doing every Staff Players production for three years for Marcia Hovick." Marcia also produced and directed Steve's adaptation of Moliere's TARTUFFE, something which Steve had originally commenced as a translation to complete a language requirement while at the University of Iowa. This had first been performed in the summer of 1965 at Sacramento State College.

Steve is now a volunteer for California's First Theatre. He is a double-duty docent - for the First Theatre as a company and for the Monterey State Historic Parks. He sells tickets for the productions and relates the history of the First Theatre. He also portrays Jack Swan, the founder of the First Theatre, for the State Historic Parks and also for ACTORS IN THE ADOBES (presented by PRT). Also, he is occasionally an actor in First Theatre productions. He recently reprised a role that he first played in 1994 - the lawyer, Mr. Utterson, in DR. JEKYLL AND MR HYDE. Steve tells about the uniqueness of the productions at California's First Theatre, "The style of performance is quite different here. The plays are primarily melodramas and we play them as they were performed in the mid to late 1800s. It's a more elocutionary and declamatory technique rather than a naturalistic style of acting. We don't play for the laughs but with the sure knowledge that the laughs will come from the archaic language as well as from the characters and situations. I enjoy it because I'm a local history buff and also it's a challange to play on this stage. There is virtually no wing space; it's the width of one human body." Steve performed in one Olio (an English term which means "hodge podge") for the First Theatre in 1994. They quickly found out that he can't sing or dance, so now he just enjoys sitting in the audience and watching others do what he can't do with the blessings of the producer and director. Steve also holds the unchallanged record of being the first performer to knock himself unconscious during a production on the First Theatre stage - truly a "knock-out" performance.

Steve talks about why he does theatre, "Curiously, I've probably been in somewhere between 75 and 100 plays, either as a performer, but I've never really enjoyed acting. It's just something that I do that keeps me out of the bars, whorehouses and jails - at least for part of the day. Unfortunately at the present time so many of the male performers of my generation are either ill or have passed away, so there are maybe a handful of us my age group left on the Peninsula who are in one sense or another stage ready. Whatever satisfaction I derive is from doing the job as well as I can. For me it's very hard work. I've directed two shows on the Peninsula, both for Marcia Hovick - Benet's JOHN BROWN'S BODY and Moliere's SCHOOL FOR WIVES. Again, it's just very hard work." After saying this, Steve admits there are still two plays he'd like to do, "The Outdoor Forest Theater is my favorite venue. I saw my first play there as a child. I've done a Shakespearean comedy there and should like to do a tragedy and a history there. Outside of that I think I've pretty much done it." Steve also talks about directors, "I respect directors who respect the text and their performers, those who know the craft of acting and honor those who do it, directors who are knowledgeable, who are well-read and who can bring intelligence, not just ego, to the director's chair. In community theatre, after all, the producers and often the director as well, go to the bank on the performer's back."

Steve's closing comments are about Monterey Peninsula theatre, " The local theatrical community is unique in its strength and diversity. There are so many active venues, many specializing in different areas of dramatic endeavor. It's a very rich fabric that has been woven here. It is a privilege for those of us who perform and direct to enjoy the many options that have been created for us by the enormously talented community on our Peninsula. I can't think of any proportionate population that could boast as many theatrical venues."