Ask performer Michael Liebhauser what drew him to stage combat and he’ll tell you, quite simply, because it was cool. It’s the rare child who doesn’t get excited by the adventures of swashbucklers and gunslingers, but Liebhauser’s interest didn’t end with adulthood. Today he is a professional stage combat instructor and choreographer.
Liebhauser says he literally owes his existence to theater. His parents, Steven and Maria Liebhauser, are owners of the popular Jamestown restaurant, Slice of Heaven. They are also performers who met while acting in a play at Providence College. Recently, father and son appeared on stage together in The Gamm Theatre’s production of “Amadeus”.
Liebhauser’s work as a stage combat instructor required years of specialized training. By definition, a stage combat choreographer is the person who creates the simulated violence in a production. During an interview with “ART inc.”, Liebhauser explained why he might be called for a job: “The first reason that a stage combat choreographer is necessary for the creation of violence on stage is safety. You can’t safely have performers just hack at each other with swords, even if they’re blunted. The second reason is the same that you would have a director for any part of the play, is it gives the performers an outside eye that gives them sort of a guiding road map to tell the story of the particular moment of violence.”
It’s a serious explanation, but we can report that this actor, choreographer, and teacher clearly has fun mining his childhood enthusiasm for a good swordfight, a comic slap, and a well-landed punch. You can watch him in action in ART inc.’s “The Art of Stage Combat”, recorded during a rollicking production of “Treasure Island” at Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick.
