YORK, Pa. — The stage lights at the Belmont Theatre will shine for Jack Hartman one last time.
“It's electric every night," said Hartman. "There's a jittery feeling going on, because you want to do a good job each night and you literally feel the lights because they're hot.”
Hartman is a longtime director and performer at the Belmont Theatre in Spring Garden Township, York County. But the thespian life was not always on his radar.
"My director in college looked at me and said, 'I know you want to go into acting, i think you could make it but don't... It's tough,'" said Hartman.
Hartman decided to become a lawyer like his father and practiced law in for 48 years. But when he came back to York County, he had an urge to go back to the stage.
“I guess I loved it that much," said Hartman. "It came to me that this is a more creative way to spend my life without the pressure.”
While working as a lawyer in York, he also found time to use the Belmont Theatre as a creative playground. For 20 years, he played a pivotal role on bringing some of the most popular characters and stories to life on stage.
Which now brought Hartman to his final show. He is directing and performing in Arthur Miller’s "All My Sons."
Like all his shows before it, Hartman relied on a technique called realism to portray his stories to his audience.
“I have to exercise my own imagination as to what I am seeing and what it translates into and what it's supposed to represent," said Hartman. “I want the audience to experience what the script was designed to give them.”
Hartman hopes these experiences he created on stage keeps audiences coming back to fill the seats.
Whether he’s there or not.
Hartman will be retiring to Long Island with his wife. Before he takes his final bow, Hartman hopes he can send a message to his college self:
“It's never too late.”
"All My Sons," Hartman's final show, will hold performances on March 30 and 31 and April 1 and 2.
For tickets and showtimes, click here.