I first met Tee back in his cheerleader days, when his big thing was to lead the frenzied cheering at the joust field. He's mellowed out a bit since then, but he's still an effervescent personality. If you've been to Revel Grove (or more recently, Tiddington), you've met him. Allow me to formally introduce you:

This is a tale of an unaware actor who in the summer of 1993 stepped through the Looking Glass to Wonderland. It actually begins much earlier in 1986 and 1987 when Tee Morris got another letter from his long time pen pal Jeanette Lech full of pictures from something called a “Renaissance Festival.” The pictures had description underneath them as to what was going on and who was whom, but it was first time he had ever heard the words “Renaissance Festival” used in reference to a place where time stepped back to the days of King Henry VIII or Elizabeth I, knights that joust for entertainment, and performers of skills not easily found anywhere else.

To me, it was just a summer job that my pal Jeanette did to do her traditional Scottish Dancing that she enjoyed so much.

Then came my first professional job out of college...the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre’s WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION by Agatha Christie. In the cast was a delightful lady and committed actress Gale Munro. The backstage chatter reached the topic of how things go at the Maryland Renaissance Festival where on I asked “What’s that?”

A few months later, I was awaiting my chance to audition in the somewhat warm and sweaty town hall in Old Town Annapolis.

My first season was as Colin Miles Thornby, town deputy. In my honest opinion, he was a forgettable character. Set dressing. No it was not intentional. Colin just was not instrumental in the village plot line. I had only a mug, my “fancy elf shoes,” and my costume provided by the Renaissance Festival. Panic really didn’t set in with me until I found out that the performance would be close to 80% of improvisation. Improvisation is not my strongest suit, but I figured if they didn’t want me they wouldn’t have hired me in the first place. Additionally, I was doing Malvolio in TWELFTH NIGHT and featured in the living history show CRIME AND PUNISHMENT; so I figured I could “fake it” through the improv aspect of the day...

The first day in the street, I was dumbstruck.

I found a moment with another actor backstage where I just opened my arm for a hug and I said, “Hold me.” I had never been more overwhelmed by a theatrical experience that that first day. The sights. The sounds. The smells.

And that was only the privies!

in my initial year, I made some terrific friendships that provided education in street work...Bonnie Orr (Bliss Goodbody), Tom Plott (Thomas Cromwell), Jonathan Jett-Parmer (Thomas Seymour), and Genevieve Horst (Rose Vineyard)...and by the end of the season I had become a cheerleader for the jousts and an active player in the Pub Sing at the Red Barrel Pub...

In seven seasons with the Maryland Renaissance Festival I have attempted to break the flight barrier and discovered new applications of dry ice with Quinton Edmund Devonshire, reinvented Shakespeare and debuted with stage combat in the Human Chess Match as Philip Verbage, and beaten the odds with a broken arm as Rafe Rafton. As an actor I find new levels to respect the Maryland Renaissance Festival. As Tee Morris, I find it hard to stay away...old friendships are fortified, new ones are created, and my heart breaks a bit when the final cannon for the season thunders in the night. I would have been a different person had I not joined the Renaissance Festival...I would not have embraced improvisation as I do now, discovered the joy of video editing, or became friends and partners-of-the-web with the hostess of this site, Regan Avery [ed. note: *blush*]. In every way, the Renaissance Festival has been the best of times and the worst of times; but I continue to return again and again to discover what the unknown elements of Revel Grove will provide to me as an actor...

Describing Revel Grove is best done in quoting HIGHLANDER...”It’s a kind of magic.”

Check out Tee's Web page, too.