P.E. teacher gets workout on stage

Joe Nikic

For Roger Telsey, performing in an upcoming production of “Bye Bye Birdie” re-opens the curtains to his past in musical and theatrical production.

“My dream was to be on stage,” Telsey said. “But my parents simply couldn’t afford to send me to classes.”

Now a physical education teacher at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Great Neck, Telsey will play Conrad Birdie in the Community Synagogue Theater Company’s presentation of “Bye Bye Birdie” at the Landmark on Main in Port Washington.

He said he always enjoyed the theater when he was growing up in Bellerose, but his start in acting did not begin until he began attending Queens College.

It was there he met Danny Burstein, a five-time Tony Award nominee, who gave him his first experience in a production.

“He was the first one to give me a chance at Queens College. He gave me a role in a show he was directing and it got me started,” Telsey said. “He was a major part in my love for theater.”

Although he had talent and ability, Telsey said, he was not well received by his peers because he was a physical education major.

“People would come out and say ‘how can you give this role to a guy that wasn’t a theater major?’”

Telsey took time off from school to pursue a career in stand-up comedy, though he returned a year later because it “just wasn’t enough to pay the bills.”

He went on to receive his degree in physical education and began teaching in Great Neck in September 2000.

Telsey currently lives in New Hyde Park with his wife, Tracy, and their two children, Steven and Michael.

Steven, a sophomore at Elon College, is pursuing a degree in music theatre following a successful theater career at Great Neck South High School.

“He’s living the life my parents couldn’t afford to give me,” Telsey said. “Right now we have so much confidence in him and his ability. We can’t wait to see where he goes.”

Michael, a senior at Great Neck South High School, will be performing in “Bye Bye Birdie” with his father.

“He has zero experience, he’s the athlete in the family,” Telsey said. “I actually had to convince him to audition for the show because he’s a teenaged boy so why would he want to do this?”

“Bye Bye Birdie” will have three production dates: Jan. 31 at 2 p.m., Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. and Feb. 6 at 8 p.m.

Telsey, who also coaches baseball at Great Neck South High School and basketball at Great Neck North High School, said he was advised to audition for the musical by executive director of the North Hempstead Business and Tourism Development Corp. Kim Kaiman, who will also be performing in the production.

It was Steven, he said, who pushed him to audition and helped prepare his lines for the audition.

“Between Kim Kaiman and Steven, they really pushed me to do this,” Telsey said. “And my desire to get back on stage and just see if I can still do it all these years later.”

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