A Star is Revealed

Stephen Largay '93 became the first person at Dartmouth to do full frontal nudity on stage when he played Wesley in Curse of the Starving Class five yeans ago in the Moore Theater. One critie wrote of his much-acclaimed performance, "...arguably one of the finest student performances ever put on a Dartmouth stage. "Since then, much success-even another nude role-has followed Largay.

Largay currently is playing Peachy Weil in the Broadway play The Last Night of Ballyboo, which won a Tony Award for Best Play last June, just three months after its New York debut. The second play written by Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy was his first), The Last Night of Ballyboo opened in Atlanta last year, where Largay originated the role of Peachy.

Largy's success is a study in hard work and perseverance, and a little bit of luck. After graduation Largay spent the summer working at the Berkshire Theater Festival, playing a tube of toothpaste, a dog, and a turtle in plays writen by children. "All speaking parts, of course," he says. His first break came when he was cast in Strangers in the Land of Canaan, directed by Rip Torn. He went on to play alan Strang in Equus in Boston, his second nude role. On June 9 Largay won The Best Actor Award 1996 from The Boston Theater Critics for his Equus performance.

He keeps to a demanding for films and doing voice-overs for radio by day. Largay acted with pnecumonia in March and with food poinsoning in April. The only time he took off last year was when his best friend, Jeff Siegle '93, got married.

The work is paying off. The star of a Tony Award-winning play has come a long way since playing a tube of toothpaste.