OGUNQUIT, Maine — Like many people who go on to become professional actors, Max Clayton caught the theatre bug early.
"In elementary school, I did a production of 'The Sound of Music' in Manchester, New Hampshire, where I’m from," he said. "I played Kurt von Trapp, and I fell in love with it. But it wasn’t something that I ever thought I could make a career out of."
In time, Clayton’s ambitions changed, and this month he has the lead role in "Singin' in the Rain" at Ogunquit Playhouse, not much more than an hour's drive from his hometown. The people who know him best, some of whom even watched him on stage as a youthful von Trapp, are enthusiastically coming over from New Hampshire to catch his performance.
"I think the most people I’ve had at one show is 70 friends and family," he said. "It’s been so overwhelming and incredible and so humbling… it feels like a homecoming."
It's also a bit nerve-wracking, which is not a feeling that a veteran of Broadway, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall quite expected. But that’s what happens when people you’ve known all your life are scattered throughout the audience.
"Ogunquit Playhouse is super-intimate and there’s really not a bad seat in the house. Knowing that all my closest family and friends are in the audience watching me—it's like I’m in the living room again," he said with a laugh. "I’d rather be in front of a sea of strangers."