Frank Buxton was a veteran performer and an inveterate teacher: enthusiastic, exuberant, and with a great sense of humor. Frank’s career in the entertainment business — as a writer, director, producer, and actor — spanned over 60 years. From those years he gathered the wide range of experience and know-how with which he enriched the cultural arts on Bainbridge.
Since first arriving on the Island in the late 1980s, he was involved with Bainbridge Performing Arts and performed in many of their most memorable productions including My Fair Lady, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and Our Town. When not on stage himself, he acted as director, producer, or sponsor.
A founding member of The Edge Improv ensemble, Frank also worked with Island Theatre, directing or performing in staged readings at the Bainbridge Public Library, and directing and producing On the Air, a main stage re-creation of live radio broadcasts from the 1930s and 1940s.
In 2001, inspired by the historic slide show of life in an internment camp created by Island Treasure Award winner Dr. Frank Kitamoto, Frank decided it would be wonderful to film all the Island Treasure honorees and screen those videotapes at the Award Ceremony.These 15-minute interviews are now a favorite part of the award evening, a tradition that continues.
Frank put his many skills to the service of his community and gave us all a lot of laughs along the way.