Tony Simotes and Tina Packer enjoy a stolen moment
In preparation for Tony and Tina’s big day on Saturday, we’re giving you a sneak peek at an upcoming interview with the happy couple:
While the bride and groom are keeping a lid on their wedding day details, we did learn this much during a late night interview at an undisclosed location, near the Forest of Arden…
How did you two meet and when did you know it was for real?
Simotes: It was back in 1978 and I had just left NYC to come up to Shakespeare & Company and work with Tina on A Midsummer Night’s Dream for our inaugural season at The Mount. Yes…I remember it well… [here he closed his eyes] …it was a dark and stormy night and I was studying my lines when I thought I smelled something burning and suddenly realized it wasn’t my crumpets that were on fire but my heart. That’s when I knew this love affair of shear ‘Will’ was for real. It didn’t take a detective to know how the next 30 years of my life would be spent. I mean, if this were play’d upon the stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.
Packer: It was back in 1978 and I was in NYC auditioning actors for my upcoming season and I saw Tony in a production of Richard III. I remember it well… [here she closed her eyes] …there he was dark, short, feisty and Greek. A perfect actor to play Puck, I thought to myself, and then as I screeched out of the parking lot in a dreamlike state of satisfaction I realized it wasn’t my emotions that were fogging up the windshield but my tires were on fire. Well it didn’t take a Shakespeare scholar to know how the next 30 years of my life would unfold. That’s when I knew Tony was the ‘one’, ah yes, my salad days when I was green in judgment.
