‘The Logger’ Coming to Rochester

Well-known Vermont actor Rusty DeWees (a.k.a. "The Logger") will kick off the Pierce Hall Community Center’s entertainment schedule Memorial Day weekend with a show Saturday, May 24 at 8 p.m. at the Rochester High School auditorium.

General admission tickets for this event will be sold in advance at the White River Credit Union in Bethel and Rochester, and will also be sold at the door. The evening will include a 50-50 raffle, and proceeds benefit Pierce Hall Community Center. Parents are cautioned that the language in this show is often "adult" in nature.

The 6 ft. 4 in., muscular, red-headed DeWees is well-known throughout Vermont for his colorful "Logger" character, which first appeared in "The Logger: A Play in 2 Ax" in 1997. His "Logger" show has been a big success throughout Vermont, as well as in big cities. He writes all the material for the show, books the halls, hires the musicians, and creates and sells the "Logger" DVDs, which have sold well over 70,000 copies each of the past several years.

A 1984 graduate of Champlain College in Burlington, DeWees grew up in a section of Stowe called Stowe Hollow. Although he often speaks about "nativer Vermonters" and talks about being a Vermonter himself, he has admitted in performances that he was actually born in Philadelphia, Penna. Back in 1999, the Vermont House of Representatives passed Joint House Resolution 104 to honor him for his contribution to Vermont’s cultural heritage.

Before he became so well-known, DeWees pumped gas and did concrete work, and performed with community theater, which led to work with professional theater in Burlington and elsewhere, and in Jay Craven’s Vermont movies. Heading to New York City, he eventually appeared on TV shows including "Law and Order," in movies, and in commercials, performing with Patrick Swayze, Randy Travis, Bill Cosby.

Wanting to have more control over his career, he came up with his now-famous "logger" persona. He first played a brawling, profane French Canadian logger character during a statewide tour of the David Budbill play "Judevine." Later, he developed the character performing logger skits with his friend George Woodward at his "Groundhog Opry" shows.

DeWees not only appears in films and does his stage show, he gives graduation speeches, reads Dr. Seuss books to kindergarten kids, visits Adult Education centers, and talks to high school kids about substance abuse. Everywhere he goes, he makes a point of listening to the audience, and remembering what he heard.

As DeWees told The Herald a couple of years ago, "Where your talent lies is in being able to tune it up, to remember how the audience reacted, remember where one word killed it or another word made it work. It’s all about timing."

Businesses who are interested in being co-sponsors of the Rochester event will receive two free tickets to the show. For more information, call Valerie Levitan at 767-9599.

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