Dan Gerrity, 1959-2013: News director at KSFR ‘lit up stage’ as actor, writer.Santa Fe New Mexican
By Robert Scott
November 20, 2013
Theater artist and KSFR news director Dan Gerrity died early Wednesday morning, apparently of a heart attack, the radio station reported.
Gerrity’s voice was well known to the community station’s listeners as he often read news reports.
A New Jersey native, Gerrity worked as a writer, director and actor in theater on the east and west coasts before settling in Santa Fe some years ago.
He served as a member of the Santa Fe Playhouse board of directors and oversaw the theater’s
popular “Benchwarmers” series of one-act plays.
Among other Santa Fe credits, he appeared in the Santa Fe Stages production of Death and the Maiden in 2000, Ironweed Productions’ version of Our Town in 2012, and the Lensic Performing Arts Center’s The Laramie Project in 2010.
He also played roles in a number of television and film projects over the years, including Swing Vote and Wildifre (both films shot in New Mexico) and the television series Frasier.
Gerrity and Jeremy Lawrence co-authored the play Melody Jones: A Striptease in Two Acts, in the early 1990s.
Gerrity was directing a comedic production of A Christmas Carol — slated to open on Dec. 5 — for the Santa Fe Playhouse. It is unclear whether the playhouse will still mount the show.
A statement issued Wednesday night by the theater group said, “Dan Gerrity lit up the stage of the Santa Fe Playhouse for many years and served as a member of its board for the last six. In that time, he became the driving force behind the Playhouse’s effort to showcase local writing, directing and acting talent, primarily through the annual Benchwarmers production. He brought tenacious intelligence and exuberant poise to all these efforts, raising the bar — and everyone’s expectations — about what community theater could and should be.”
Though the Internet Movie Database says that Gerrity was born in 1958, local sources, including KSFR, report that he was 59.
According to his bio on the website, Gerrity’s work has been honored by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle.
No information about funeral arrangements or memorial services was immediately available.
GERRITY, Dan
Born: 12/21/1954, Red Bank, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Died: 11/20/2013, Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A.
Don Gerrity’s western – actor:
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (TV) – 1993 (Jonah Collier)