MEDIA, PA (KYW Newsradio) — A Delaware County native is performing a one-man show about his childhood, and his idol, Robin Williams.
They never actually met, but Dave Droxler felt a connection to Williams growing up.
"He felt like an adult version of myself,” Droxler said. “When I was younger, I was very manic … doing lots of voices, jumping around … a high energy child.”
“When I saw him in ‘Mork & Mindy’ … I was like, ‘Oh, this is an adult who's acting the same way that I'm acting, and not getting yelled at for doing so, and getting accolades instead,’" he said.
Droxler said Williams made him feel like it was okay to exist in the world the way he was, and Williams’ movies also helped him through difficult times in his childhood.
Droxler channeled this connection into an autobiographical play called “Robin and Me: My Little Spark of Madness,” in which Williams appears as young Droxler’s imaginary friend.
He performed the one-man show off-Broadway in New York and now is bringing it home to Delaware County at Hedgerow Theatre in Media.
“It's amazing … to be able to come home to tell the stories of where everything happened, and then have many of the people who I talk about in the show be there to support me is incredible,” Droxler said.
The play focuses on Droxler’s relationship with his father, who died earlier this year.
“Just as there's times I feel like Robin's on the stage with me,” Droxler said, “I'll now feel like my dad's on the stage with me, and he'll get to see it because he didn't get to see it before.”
Droxler credits his Ridley High School drama teacher Sandy Stefanowicz for showing him that performance was a potential career path.
“I would always be silly and goofy,” he remembered, “and she kind of helped me mold that, to also even show me that, ‘Hey, you can also be a really good, serious actor.’”
“She was very pivotal in regards to who I am now as a person and as an actor.”
“Robin and Me: My Little Spark of Madness” runs Oct. 9 - 27. Tickets and details are on Hedgerow Theatre’s website.