Actor revels in time on Village stage

Quinn Butterfield still remembers the first line he ever spoke in the first play he was ever in- — "Who claims the ribbon for the red, red rose?"

Cast as a towns person in the Bigfork Playhouse Children's theater's first play, "Beauty Lou and the Country Beast," Butterfield had no idea that it was the start of something much larger.

"I wasn't really excited to do it at first," Butterfield said. "When I first started doing theater, I was working backstage and painting sets and doing other things to help out. I was more interested in how everything worked behind the scenes, but my mom suggested that I try to get a part on stage."

The rest, as they say, is history.

"I was definitely hooked from that point," Butterfield said. "I did every show that I could possibly be in since then."

Butterfield went on to act in several plays with the children's theatre, and after graduating from Bigfork High School in 2006 attended the University of Montana. As a student in the school's theatre department, Butterfield had roles in a range of plays including "Oklahoma" and "Cats." During his summers, he returned to Bigfork to work with the Bigfork Summer Playhouse.

"I feel like there's this corner of my brain that's filled with every line, dance number and cue to go on from those days through the plays I'm in now," Butterfield said. "It's just crammed full and is overflowing into the rest of my brain."

This season at the BSP, Butterfield can been seen in all four shows.

"I think all four shows are great this summer and that's not an easy thing to say, but every one of them is brilliant," Butterfield said, also noting the diversity of genres. "That is thanks to every single person who works at the playhouse. There's a reason that it's been open for 51 years. It's because they only hire really talented people. Not to mention Bigfork surrounds the theatre with so much love and support."

Butterfield plays the constable in "Fiddler on the Roof" and he is in the ensemble in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' and in "All Shook Up." He is also in "Sugar Babies," and although he is listed merely as first comic in the playbill, his character is far more memorable, especially when dressed as a drag queen complete with high heels

"The problem is I'm starting to get good at that," Butterfield said of walking in the women's footwear. "That's trouble. So, I have to pretend to shake my legs. That the magic of theatre."

With its laid-back format, "Sugar Babies' is Butterfield's favorite play yet.

"It's my favorite theater experience I've ever had," he said. "It allows me to do my favorite kind of theater. It gets a little wild and I get to just go with it. It's really fun. At any given point in that show, one out of every 10 lines is me making up a line."

Butterfield will open his 20th show with the BSP on July 23, the benefit review.

After two years of being a theater major at UM, Butterfield returned to Bigfork to gain some different types of experiences.

"I have yet to finish school. It's something I plan to do," Butterfield said. "I just feel like when I come here and work in the theater, I learn so much more than when I am sitting in the classroom."

That theory has held true for Butterfield, whether he is acting in the Bigfork's theatre or just working in it. The first winter he was out of school he helped Don Thomson with the construction of the revamped lobby at the playhouse.

"It was really cool because I got to talk a lot with someone who has been a huge influence on my life."

Butterfield said he feels lucky every day to get to be a part of the Thomson's theater.

"I feel like the Thomson's have a very special situation going on," Butterfield said. "They have a box of stray kittens from all over and they take care of each and every one of them like they are their very own even though they know they'll have to give them up at the end of the season. It's a great place to work because you're never alone. We are all like an extended family. When you get off stage, you know you'll always have your brothers and sister to hang out with."

However, last winter he decided it was time for some new influences and he packed up and moved to Los Angeles.

"I'm trying to find work. I'm trying to move what I do into TV and film," Butterfield said. "I love theater, but I love trying new things as well. I really want to expand my craft and I love jumping head first into new things."

Although he is enjoying his new life in the big city, it is the longest he has ever gone without being in a show.

"The two months before I came back here was the longest it has been since I started acting," Butterfield said. "I've always been in back-to-back shows. I get really antsy when I'm not on stage. It's just been such a giant part of my life since I was so young."

Growing up on the stage can affect actors in different ways, but for Butterfield it has simply become a passion.

"I love the feeling that it gives me, not the thought that other people give me for being up there," he said.

It is his goal to keep that same mentality and grounded small-town beliefs as his life unfolds in show business.

"I always want to be the kid from Montana in LA," Butterfield said. "It's my hope that I can be there and stay exactly who I am. That may even help me get noticed too. I'm very pleased that I got out of here and that I'm trying new things, but it doesn't mean I'll ever forget this place though."

Even though he has enjoyed his summers in Bigfork, he is coming to grips with the reality that this fourth summer with BSP may be his last as he moves on to new things. However, he won't be doing so light-heartedly.

"I get to do what I love in one of the most beautiful places in the world and it just happens to be my home town," Butterfield said.