Larry Strauss is In Character

Larry Strauss is a man of many talents—he just didn’t know to what extent until he retired. If you had asked him what he was going to do with all his free time, he probably would have shrugged his shoulders and grinned as if to say he didn’t have a clue. What the former Sears executive from Chicago did know was that he wanted to play a lot of golf, and his wife, Carole, dreamed of living in a house on the beach.

“I never could have imagined I’d be living in Florida,” Strauss muses. “I grew up in a small town in Minnesota, graduated from St. John’s College, went into the Sears management training program, and ended up at the corporate office in Chicago as the human resources director.”

Life was good; it would get better once he waved goodbye to the Windy City, discovered Vero Beach, and had a golf partner who suggested he check out the Vero Beach Theatre Guild. He did. Liking what he saw, he auditioned for a part in Send Me No Flowers. He got it.

Over the years, Strauss, who had no prior acting experience, has appeared in 35 productions, playing everyone from professor Henry Higgins to a cranky factory boss. He also headed up Guild on the Go, a traveling troupe that took the theater to retirement and assisted living facilities. He’s held board positions and received Genie Awards, the guild’s version of the Tonys.

Three years ago, Strauss began putting down on paper a story and songs that had been playing around in his head. It was an Irish Christmas tale about a North Dakota anthropologist and the discoveries he made while visiting Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula; Reykjavik, Iceland; and the North Pole. Strauss called it Dancing on the Dingle.

Not only was the story fast-paced fun, the music had everyone tapping their toes. “I had all these simple melodies in my head, but I wanted to find somebody who could take the music to a higher level,” Strauss explains. “Everyone said, ‘You’ve got to talk to Jacob Craig, director of music and arts at First Presbyterian Church,’ so I did. I gave him the script, he loved it, and we got together. I would sing a few notes and Jacob would take them and start playing amazing music on the piano—just out of thin air. I was floored.”

When asked if he’s working on another musical, Strauss just smiles, so you figure he’s up to something. However, for now he’s busy helping young golfers improve their game. “One of the best decisions I made was signing up as a volunteer with the Indian River Golf Foundation, where Roger Van Dyke has made golf accessible to youngsters,” he says. “I call myself the junior assistant and have the opportunity to combine my love of golf with my theatrical background by being the MC at special events.

“You know, the one thing I’ve learned in life is that so much is happenstance. You truly don’t know what you’re capable of until you’re given the opportunity. There were so many other things I could have done, places I could have gone. I’m just glad Carole and I found Vero Beach.”