A towering presence in Pittsburgh theater
The voice coming from the stage at the Stephen Foster Memorial Theater shook Mark Clayton Southers to his core. It was the 1980s, and he was taping a performance of August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” for Kuntu Repertory Theater.
“I heard this booming baritone cussing God out, and it shook me,” the actor, director and founder of Pittsburgh Playwrights said.
He was hearing Don Marshall for the first time.
“He was so realistic, I believed that was this person’s life,” Mr. Southers recalled. “It was Don Marshall and August Wilson’s words that are responsible for me falling in love with theater.”
Mr. Marshall, at 6 feet, 6 inches a towering presence on Pittsburgh stages in the 1980s through the 2000s, died Friday at age 76. He had lived with his daughter, Candace Roberson, in Charlotte, N.C., during the past year. It was discovered recently that he had widespread cancer, and he had been moved to hospice care the day before his death.
Mr. Marshall was born on June 18, 1942, to Landrum and Nellie Mae Marshall of Aliquippa. He led a tumultuous life and struggled mightily to make a living as an actor in Pittsburgh and beyond. But he never had a problem commanding the stage and became a staple from here to New York in regional productions.
In 1992, Mr. Marshall reprised his “Ma Rainey” role at Pittsburgh Public Theater, and in ‘93, he collaborated with Marc Masterson, the once and future head of City Theatre, to adapt the Richard Wright novella “The Man Who Lived Underground” into a theatrical work. The performances earned Mr. Marshall Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Performer of the Year honors.
Post-Gazette theater critic Christopher Rawson chronicled his highs and lows in a 2005 article, listing some of his jobs that did not include the stage, including head of security for the Republic Steel plant in Beaver Falls. In addition, “[h]e’s refitted ships, worked in recycling plants, built houses and served as head gardener for San Francisco Opera Plaza.” Mr. Rawson noted that the Vietnam War veteran also had been jailed “down South for challenging Jim Crow laws.”
Mr. Marshal also studied speech and communications at the University of Pittsburgh, was a minister at the Church of the Round in Aliquippa and tried his hand at broadcasting and public relations, but he was most at home onstage.
“He was an actor who was hungry for specific things,” said Mr. Masterson, who worked with Mr. Marshall on productions at Hartwood Acres and City.
The director’s first reaction to adapting Wright’s work had been that “it wasn’t an obvious piece of theater, but he made a case for it, and he was right. The character he played was a little bit of an outsider and had to find his own way and fought for his view of the world, and the same things were true for Don.”
Other high-profile performances at local theaters included “Rose Cottages,” “Frankie and Johnny,” “Incommunicado” and “Our Country’s Good” at City, “The Taming of the Shrew” at the Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, “Black Nativity” at Wilkinsburg Arts Theater and many more shows at Kuntu Rep. In 2008, he starred as the leader of Zimbabwe in “Breakfast With Mugabe” for Quantum Theatre.
“I was so grateful to work with him that late in the game. He was magnificent,” said Karla Boos, who directed him for Quantum. “And despite that frigid winter and very Quantum-esque conditions, I know he loved playing that old bastard Mugabe, who surely was never as charming as Don.”
The PG’s Tony Norman interviewed Mr. Marshall in 1995, when the actor was 53 and about to perform the title role in the bioplay “Paul Robeson” at City, which became his signature role.
The actor recalled the moment 11 years earlier — when he was struggling to make it on the West Coast and driving a cab — when he picked up a book of photographs of the dynamic actor, singer and civil rights activist Robeson.
“The photos were so magnificent, I had to find out more about this man,” Mr. Marshall said.
He performed as Robeson many times, including an eight-week run during the mid-’90s in Watertown, Mass., where they kept performing even through heavy snows because the theater was full every night.
“He influenced a lot of people in a positive way and certainly entertained audiences all over the city in a wide variety of things,” Mr. Masterson said. “He could sing and he was a great actor, and he had a wide range.”
Before moving to Charlotte, Mr. Marshall lived first in Homewood and then at a local YMCA. His daughter, Ms. Roberson, said her father “had put everything” into reconnecting with her, his grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.
“My dad was a true gentleman. He was very loving, and he treated us like gold,” she said.
In his final year, the memories that Don Marshall shared with his family were fond ones.
“He loved what he did,” his daughter said, “and he loved Pittsburgh theater.”
In addition to his daughter, Mr. Marshall is survived by his son, Donald Marshall II of Atlanta; and siblings Landrum Marshall of Sherwood, Ark., and Denise, Sharlene and Elsetta Marshall of Aliquippa. No services are planned and burial information is pending.