On the Town: Director and his wife exit the stage

This past Saturday evening, as the final curtain fell on the Burbank High School drama department’s spring production of “Failure: A Love Story,” it also marked the last show to be staged under the direction of drama teacher Brooks Gardner and his wife, Ann O’Donnell-Gardner.

Brought into the school’s drama department 12 years ago by then Principal Bruce Osgood, Gardner has announced he will be retiring at the end of this school year.

“Brooks did so much to raise the bar in the theater arts at Burbank High School,” said Osgood during intermission on Saturday. “He is an amazing talent and teacher, who gave kids interested in pursuing careers in theater the opportunity to work in professional quality productions.”

Gardner — best known for his role as Travis, the wild and boisterous, steak-loving cowboy who served as the commercial spokesman for Black Angus restaurants from the late-1990s through the early-2000s — is also a former member and chairman of the Burbank Police Commission.

He and his wife, also an accomplished actress and singer, met in 1978 when they were cast as the leads in a summer stock production of “Two Gentleman of Verona.”

Following the curtain calls during Saturday’s performance, the cast, led by Lauren Yu, invited the Gardners, Osgood and current BHS Principal Michael Bertram, to join them on stage.

Evoking unfettered emotion from her cast mates, Yu told the assembled that the Gardeners had played a vital role with the many students whose lives they have touched over the years.

“We all went into this show knowing it would be their last, but, it hadn’t seemed real until the last few days, and especially tonight,” Yu said. “They have always been our loving and caring second set of parents who listened to our problems and gave us some of the best years of our lives.”

Bertram also paid tribute to the couple by saying his predecessor — Osgood — made a brilliant decision in bringing Gardner on as the drama teacher because they also got his wife. Calling it a “two-for-the-price-of-one deal,” he lauded Gardner for his dedication.

“It has been an honor to watch Brooks develop students who came in with no background in theater and to see them learn and gain confidence through his teaching,” Bertram said. “He will be very hard to replace.”

It was, perhaps, a fitting metaphor that Gardner selected “Failure: A Love Story,” to be his BHS swan-song production. The story, written by Chicago playwright Philip Dawkins and set in 1928, tells a magical and musical tale about life and death, beginnings and endings, and the triumphs and defeats of a family who run a clock shop.

Funny, poignant and profoundly wise as the clocks serve as a constant reminder that time constantly moves on, the play’s message is that, in the end, all that really remains is love.

That theme is made most clear when, just prior to being euthanized, the family dog says: “Just because something ends, that don’t mean it wasn’t a great success.”

“That line speaks to Brooks’ and my time at Burbank High School,” said O’Donnell-Gardner.

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DAVID LAURELL may be reached by email at dlaurell@aol.com or (818) 563-1007.