EAST LANSING, Mich. — This week's good neighbors are local playwrights who spark conversations, stir emotions and bring unforgettable stories to life.
Long before the curtain rises…before the actors take their places…theater begins with just an idea. And in Lansing, two men have spent their lives turning ideas into stories. Tom Klunzinger is one of them.
“I listened to my first Broadway musical cast album at age five. So then from that, I wrote my first song, words of music at age six. I wrote my first play at age 24 my first musical age 34.”
From that first album at age five, Tom's life has been filled with music and stories. His biggest production? The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Riverwalk theatre in 1999. His proudest? A one-night run on Broadway in 2018.
Tom was recently honored with the Robert Busby Special Thespie Award, recognizing his lifetime of contributions to Lansing’s theater community.
Across town, Roger Rochowiak also found his calling in theater.
“Here’s my first musical, Lovin N Huggin and a New York producer came in and directed it."
Roger first stepped into theater as an actor but soon started writing plays of his own. Over the years, he’s created three musicals and more than 20 staged plays.
“Up here," Roger points to his wall, "is a play called Naked as a Jay Bird and that is the first play I started to write. I never had writing lesson at the time. I was doing summer stock and I said to myself, 'how hard would it be to write a farce. So, I came up with a catchy title, Naked As A Jay Bird. There is no nudity.”'
That first attempt launched decades of writing. And one of his biggest hits.
“Live theater is something that is just different and unique," says theater critic Jane Zussman. "It survives, in spite of all the channels and all the screens and all the different options we have now. Still there's something about live theater.”
Roger doesn’t work alone. He often teams up with his friend Doug Austin to create original songs for musicals.
“We’ll sit over at his house on a piano bench. I’ve got the libretto and all the spoken word. I’ll say, well, Doug, here’s where the leads should do a duet. He’ll start playing. He'll maybe play a little faster or not quite that fast. Then, suddenly, the music will find its place.”
Two men. Two lifetimes of work. Their plays have traveled; their words have lasted. And through it all, they’ve kept Lansing theater alive with humor, heart, and humanity.
And that’s why this week’s Good Neighbors are playwrights Tom Klunzinger and Roger Rochowiak — showing how passion and creativity can turn an idea into something unforgettable.
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