Terry grew up in Southern California with his sister and brother, attended college near home, in South Carolina, and then in Berkeley where we first saw one another in 1968. That fall, we both started at UC and noticed one another across the room in a modern dance class. He may not have been a great modern dancer, but I was struck by Terry’s comfort in his body; it was intoxicating. We actually met for the first time two years later when our Drama Department shut down due to campus activities against the war in Southeast Asia, and drama students started Theater for Peace. We wrote and produced anti-war plays, taking them to community venues like churches, schools, and home gatherings to stimulate dialog and action.
Theater and storytelling became a central part of Terry’s professional life from the co-founding of Sunseed, a Napa-based theater company to his professional acting career (beginning in the late 70s) to Videosyncracy (his video production company founded in the mid 1980s). Terry used his art—live theater and video/film—to tell stories, both real and imagined. Exploring and documenting the gritty, sweet, harsh, and tender in the human experience was his life’s passion.
Among his favorite expressions was his work as an actor and Board member with Golden Thread Productions, a San Francisco theater company devoted to the Middle East; as well as writing, producing, directing and acting in video productions highlighting the work of Bay Area actors and filmmakers in the internet series Encounters on Earth which he founded; and also directing and producing Videosyncracy’s documentation of the work of local non-profits and small business entrepreneurs for their websites.
Over the past few years, Terry crafted a full-length play, The Space Between, delving into the personal and professional life of the photographer and motion picture pioneer, Eadweard Muybridge, and his search for “the truth”. After holding several play readings and an actor’s workshop in the fall of 2017, Terry was working toward producing the play and playing Muybridge in 2018 in San Francisco when he died.
Earlier this year, after living for 38 years in Albany, we moved to Sierra foothills to start a new life chapter in community. He left Albany shortly after being named 2016 Albany Artist of the Year, by the Albany Arts Committee who singled him out because of his film Name, which aired during the Albany Film Festival. We were fortunate to find a home in Nevada City Cohousing, a splendid multi-generational community of 34 families who live independently together. We have been beautifully embraced by our cohousing neighbors who have supported us both through our transition from city life and Terry’s life transition. It is a miracle that we found our way to this little piece of heaven together while he was still feeling well enough to experience the beauty of nature and the people of this area. Whenever we returned after being in the Bay Area, he would get out of the car, smell the air, and sigh deeply. He loved the feel and smell of pine-scented air.
The attached art piece (hearts) was created by members of the community who water colored hearts and then wrote special messages to Terry and me and delivered it to him on his last day. It will continue to be treasured
Making a donation to the NorCal CarciNET Community (patient support network for neuroendocrine cancer), Golden Thread Productions, or Oxfam would support one of the organizations Terry championed
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