In the second grade (c. 1970), Rick was cast by his homeroom teacher, Mrs. Vicini, to play the King Pumpkin in a musical she wrote about a vegetable garden and how all the vegetables were negatively impacted by the insecticide DDT. And it was this original school musical that started Rick's lifelong journey as an actor... The summer prior to Rick's senior year in High School he was hired by a Pittsburgh-area Dinner Theatre to play Mercutio in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. He was 17 years old, playing Mercutio who was 17 years old, and being paid as an actor! Unfortunately, Rick...
