‘My desire was to sing and to get on stage and have a party with the audience.’

Being willing to do whatever it takes to break into the entertainment business is John Woodgate’s credo. In June, he left his seven-year career as a registered nurse to embark on a new adventure behind the scenes of the Old Globe Theatre’s Festival Stage as an assistant prop master. Growing up in an alcoholic family where he was abused, the 33-year-old aspiring singer-model kept quiet his dreams of entertaining and chose a career he thought his family would respect. After reading “Your Heart’s Desire,” a 1940s-era book written by metaphysical author Emmet Fox, Woodgate became determined to bring his dreams to reality. Now, despite the hard work and the hand-to-mouth existence, Woodgate says he will never leave the entertainment field. Times staff writer Caroline Lemke interviewed him and Bob Grieser photographed him.

For a long time, I had known I wanted to do something else, but I was afraid to go and do it. My desire was to sing and to get on stage and have a party with the people in the audience and sort of play. I was cheating myself out of what life was offering. So I quit my job.

I went to live in Spain two years ago on the Balearic Islands, and it was there that I really got in touch with myself. My job, No. 1, had to be fun. No. 2, it had to offer something to the rest of the world that was productive and helpful, and, three, that I could make an income from it.

I am a novice. The only thing I could do is go around to all the different theaters in San Diego, like the Lyceum, Starlight, the Old Globe Theater and say, ‘Here I am and I want to go to work as an entertainer.’ I can’t believe I did that, but I did.

Ken Dennison from the Old Globe called and said that I had a job working in the scenery department painting scenery for two days. I made plastic leaves that I cut out of this mesh grate. I put the pattern down, drew it out and cut it out and then I’d glue these leaves together and paint them for the set of “Night of the Iguana.”

I was only making $3.35 an hour, but I was watching all this stuff. Watching these guys up on the balcony making the scenery, watching people paint, watching directors come in and out--and it fascinated me. I thought, this is really cool. And I kept thinking, how am I going to live? How am I going to eat? How am I going to pay rent? All those things and I knew that I didn’t care about that anymore because it was like I could not work another day doing what I was doing as a nurse. This is really cool.

I worked Thursday and Friday, and Friday night I got a message from Ken Dennison saying they had a position available at the Festival Stage at the Old Globe. They needed a running crew member to work directly with the actors. I would be running the show literally, and I would learn everything that there was to know from behind the scenes and it was an incredible opportunity with a raise and did I want the job? It didn’t take me long.

The first thing I do when I come to work, I sweep the floor. Then I get to go and play with the theater and I set up the stage with the props for whatever is needed. Anything that moves during the performance is tested to make sure that it functions properly. The backstage is set up with everything in position so the actors know where to get it. At the end of the performance I take everything down that I put up, and I go home.

The Old Globe is world renown and it’s a miracle that I’m there. There are people from all over the United States with years of experience and education who would just die for the opportunity to do what I’m doing.

I used to think that money was the most important thing, but it wasn’t that at all. It was doing something that I really believe is what I’m supposed to be doing for me and enjoying it, having fun. But the thing of it is, even if it doesn’t turn out, I can always say, “Well, at least I went for it and I don’t have to doubt whether it ever could have happened because it did happen and I got my answer.”