As he wields a sword, dressed in chain mail, few of his students
may recognize their drama/ceramics teacher, C. William Klipstine,
but he is very comfortable in his role as a knight, just as he is
in his role as teacher and director.
Morgan Hill – As he wields a sword, dressed in chain mail, few of his students may recognize their drama/ceramics teacher, C. William Klipstine, but he is very comfortable in his role as a knight, just as he is in his role as teacher and director.
The Live Oak High drama director is retiring at the end of the school year after 32 years in the district and more than 60 different productions including theatrical classics such as “The Crucible,” “Taming of the Shrew,” and more modern plays such as “Grease,” “Annie” and “Mash.”
“We will really miss him,” Live Oak High sophomore Deborah Parks said Wednesday. “He knows what is going on inside a teenager’s head and understands how to get under our skin and get us to work hard.”
Klipstine is proud of his membership in SCA, the Society for Creative Anachronism, a Mediaeval reenactment education group that has 17 “kingdoms” worldwide.
He describes himself as the “local bigwig,” a baron in rank with a territory stretching from South San Jose to San Luis Obispo and running down the coast.
The nature of his role in the SCA – a fighter – fits him because his philosophy in life, he said, is to “ride to the sound of the guns.”
In other words, he likes to meet problems head on, taking responsibility for his actions. That’s the secret to his longevity with the district, he said.
“The administration knows I’m not a complainer, so when there is an issue that needs to be addressed, I think they are more likely to pay attention,” he said.
A Vietnam veteran, Klipstine says he is not interested in politics, either governmental or district politics.
“It’s truly a case of not judging a book by the cover,” he said. “When I first was applying for the job, I think they thought I was some kind of long-haired radical.”
But he was hired to teach at Britton Middle School, and stayed there for 13 years, the last few floating between Britton and Live Oak High School. He has taught a variety of classes, including English, social studies, radio and TV production, drama, ceramics and even a course at Britton called “outdoor living,” that involved the class going on camping trips five or six times a year.
“I think the variety has been nice over the years,” he said. “The drama is the things, but I’ve enjoyed the different experiences.”
Variety has been a constant in his life. He was an “Army brat,” he said, and later was in the Army himself. He earned a bachelor’s degree in education with a major in drama and a fine arts minor from Ohio State University.
He went to Vietnam and came home with a chest full of medals. He went to graduate school at OSU and studied film.
That’s what brought him out to California, he said. But despite his interest in the film industry, he didn’t like the “Los Angeles scene,” and moved north, ending up in San Jose working for the Boy Scouts of America.
“They wanted a war hero, someone with a clean-cut image,” he said.
Klipstine was in the office when he read something about a search for a director for the community theater in Morgan Hill. He quit the Boy Scouts just before the birth of his first child, a son, to take over the theater, and he moved to San Martin.
“It sounds weird to say since I majored in drama, but outside of a play in high school, that was my first real connection with drama,” he said.
He eventually wound up in the Morgan Hill School District, inspiring students to pursue their love of acting or the theater in general.
“He’s an institution,” Live Oak High Principal Nick Boden said. “He will be impossible to replace. I guess you simply move in another direction. He has been a tremendous force with the program for all these years, has taken it to new heights. The impact he has had on so many kids over the years is incredible. He has a real passion for drama and has inspired it in many budding actors and actresses.”
Klipstine said he knows of several of his former students who have gone on to pursue a career in acting or in the production side of theater, television or film.
“It’s funny, because there are some students you encounter that you know they’re going on, and they do, and others you think just don’t have it, yet they succeed,” he said. “It goes back to, you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. You also can’t underestimate what these kids are going to do. Most of them have it in them to surprise you.”
