Deborah Kintzing
She Might be Fabulous, but Can She Type?
by Brian Cockman
May 2009
"Balance and passion are essential," says renowned Triad thespian and director, Deborah Kintzing. She integrates these two qualities in everything she sets out to do whether in the arts, her global volunteer work or her role as a wife and mother. For more than 30 years, Deborah has been shaping and educating the minds of her colleagues and students by paying attention to what’s going on around her and becoming an active participant in "life." Her eclectic career transcends the arts and now serves her well in the role of Director of Campaign and Community Relations for the Greensboro Jewish Federation. To understand Deborah’s "fabulousness", however, you first have to understand the passion that drives every aspect of her life.
Deborah admits that she started off as a Journalism major in college, but when a typing test (yes, on a typewriter she says) proved to be a disaster she was encouraged by a friend to try theatre. This suggestion turned out to be the right path for Deborah and her love for the arts was ignited by working on the play The Wizard of Oz at the University of Tennessee. After college, Deborah continued her work as an actress and toured with the Fantastick Players in a children’s theatre production of Aladdin and his Magic Lamp, as well as performing in outdoor drama and summer stock. Wanting to learn more of the nuances of acting and directing, Deborah studied at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) where she received her Master’s in Directing and Acting. According to Deborah, one of her biggest influences during this time was acclaimed Broadway actor John Joy who she studied under at UNCG. Under his tutelage, she realized that acting provided an opportunity to look at all the possibilities that lie within us. By taking on different character roles, she says you can become someone else and see life in a different light.
Deborah in Ethiopia
This attitude helped Deborah immensely when she decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. Throughout her 10 years in LA, Deborah appeared in numerous commercials and worked with people such as Joanne Woodward and Tyne Daly. Deborah never lost sight of helping people achieve their goals, and started the Malibu Actors Workshop as a professional acting coach. She says she still gets excited when she sees former students on television or receives a letter from them telling her of their successes.
Upon her return to the Triad, Deborah felt there was a niche that needed to be filled to help budding actors in the area. She created an actors’ showcase in Greensboro a la American Idol that allowed her students to perform in front of professionals who would then critique performances. In essence, it was a one stop shop for models and actors who wanted to develop their skills in front of the camera.
Deborah says life and art are intertwined. She feels that artists see things in a different way and are focused on discovering the imaginative in the ordinary. To her, life is the foundation for an artist.
"All of us make decisions every day. Whether choosing what to wear or how to set the dinner table, as artists, we learn how to integrate and interpret decisions, which bring the spirit of discovery into the journey called life." It is no surprise that this pioneering spirit of self discovery has taken Deborah to far off places like Beltsy, Moldova, the poorest country in the former Soviet Union, where she and a group of volunteers work annually with the remaining community of 3,000 Jews. She also participated in an airlift of Jewish refugees out of Ethiopia to Tel Aviv. She says having the privilege to work with volunteers and communities across the globe has only served to nourish and inspire her passion and creative side in the arts.
Deborah says her work in the arts and with volunteers here at home and abroad are complementary. She is currently spearheading a campaign for the Jewish Federation of Greensboro with a $1.75 million fundraising goal that will go towards enhancing the lives of local residents, as well as people in Israel and countries of the former Soviet Union. Combine this with her role as director of the upcoming John Ford Noonan play A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking in May at the Broach Theatre, and you can begin to see why balance and passion are essential to Deborah. She uses both to achieve winning results on stage and off.