Seeing the dozens of photos with Norm McPhee’s face and the long list of shows with his name listed as director on the walls of the Racine Theatre Guild, it’s hard to overstate his impact there.
Those who worked with McPhee, now retired, said it was his leadership, work ethic, and commitment to excellence over a decades-long career that’s made their growth possible.
“Everybody respected him,” Doug Instenes said. “He was the first one in last one out, never asked anybody to do something he wasn’t willing to do himself.”
Instenes is the theatre’s current managing and artistic director. He said without McPhee’s advocacy, they wouldn’t even have their current building.
“I owe who I am today because of Norm McPhee,” he added.
After well over a hundred shows with thousands of actors, stage crew, and the like, Doug isn’t the only one McPhee has supported over the years. Mona Lews is another one.
"He cared about you and your family and your life,” Lewis said.
Lewis said McPhee’s support often extended well beyond the job and it's the reason she and her peers are looking to return the favor.
After their former director was diagnosed with dementia, the area’s theatre community began working to help make sure the 87-year-old family was supported.
Lewis set up a GoFundMe this month to make that happen as a thank-you for his years of leadership.
McPhee was first diagnosed a few years ago but it wasn't until the past year he entered hospice care.
“This has been a really, really hard difficult unexpected journey that we’ve had we my dad’s health care,” McPhee’s daughter Sara Lafkas said. “We just had to kind of cobble things together."
Despite offers for help coming in sooner, for years McPhee's family worked hard to managed his care and the ever-changing cost associated on their own.
McPhee's oldest, Jenny McPhee, said Lewis' offer for help was different because she too had a loved one battling dementia and understood their needs.
McPhee's daughters are now states away and apart but growing up the theatre in Racine was like a second home. Each was cast in a play before they were 10 years old.
“It’s so hard really when you see someone that you love who was just an absolute giant who was so smart and so loved and so active just slowly become not quite who they were,” Lafkas said. “But, through it all you know he has done his best."
She said the family is grateful to have the help of people their father once led, supporters who will remember McPhee’s legacy even when he sometimes forgets.
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