Area residents will get their chance to see Jamestown native Mitchell Anderson on Sept. 15 and 16 at the Cappa Theatre at the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown.

Upon the completion of the Reg Lenna Civic Center renovation in Jamestown 33 years ago, a grand opening was held, emceed by Jamestown native Mitchell Anderson.

During a rehearsal for the event, I paid him a visit, because not only did we graduate from Jamestown High School together, but we also sang in the tenor section of the A Cappella Choir and were cast members in school musicals; Mitchell always in lead roles and me comfortable in the background.

The bottom line was I just wanted to say hi to an old friend and also to offer my congratulations, because since we walked across the stage to receive our diplomas at the Amphitheater at Chautauqua Institution on a June evening in 1979, Mitchell had accomplished great things in his young acting career, landing him significant roles in television and in movies.

Yet the Mitchell I’d always admired for being so comfortable in all settings was privately struggling.

“I was more recognizable,” he said in a cell phone interview earlier this month as he recalled our interaction in 1990, “but those were the years that I was most afraid.”

Mitchell Anderson performs

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When Mitchell turned 60 a couple years ago — in the midst of the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic — he figured it was a good opportunity to look back on his life, to celebrate it and, frankly, to “work on something” that didn’t involve the two restaurants he owns in Atlanta.

“I’ve been on stage many times, sung on stage many times and done two character plays before, but I’d never done a one-man show,” he said. “I thought, ‘You know what? For my 60th year, I’m going to challenge myself, and I’m going to write a show and take a look at age 60 and how I got there.'”

So with the encouragement of Courtenay Collins, who would later become the director of the show, Mitchell needed just two months (January and February 2021) to produce a two-act play about his life. And, not surprisingly, “You Better Call Your Mother,” has been well-received ever since, playing before sold-out houses in Atlanta and New York City.

Area residents will get their chance to see it Sept. 15-16 at the Cappa Theatre at the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown.

Mitchell Anderson performs

“Because I write every day in my little blog (for his Metrofresh restaurant website), that ‘muscle’ is just exercised very well,” Mitchell said. “I knew I had several ‘beats’ of my life and how I could tell the story, and somehow it just came out.”

It wasn’t the first time that he “came out,” though.

Describing himself as a “nerdy, over-achieving boy, who spent his school years trying to get elected class president and not disappointing his parents,” Mitchell came to terms with being gay just as he was starting his acting career in 1983, which coincided with a raging AIDS crisis.

“It was this double-edged thing of, on one hand, you want to work as an actor and you’re in the leading-man category and everybody is telling you, ‘Do not let other people know you’re gay, because otherwise you will not work,'” he said. “And yet I’m in a relationship, and I’m doing some sort of activism or political work just because all my friends are dying.”

Finally, in 1996 at the GLAAD Awards, Mitchell announced to the world he was gay. Upon walking off the stage, he was advised to call his mom.

“In families, we all have our own story, and my story after I came out conflicted with my mother’s story,” said Mitchell, who had let his parents know of his sexual orientation 11 years earlier. “It meant, for her, I wasn’t going to live up to, or accomplish, her vision for me in the way she thought I should.

“My dad (had) a whole different reaction. It wasn’t easy for him, but he also was like, ‘You’re a good person.’ After I came out at the GLAAD Awards, that was the first time that mom and dad could no longer be in the closet. Oddly enough, that changed the whole direction.”

And now, unlike when I saw him on stage at Reg Lenna Civic Center more than three decades ago, Mitchell is no longer afraid.

“At almost 62 … I get up in the morning,” he said, “I work really hard and I’ve created a life I’m very happy with.”

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In the two-act performance, Mitchell sings and talks about spending time as a child with his grandmother, who introduced him to theater and music; his experiences as a student at Jamestown High and during college; and his career as an actor.

“There’s a really good button in the first act where I sing this beautiful song to my mother, who is in a wheelchair, that is incredibly emotional,” Mitchell said. “At the end of the second act, I’m having a moment with my dad after I came out at the GLADD Awards in 1996 where he said, ‘Mitchell, I’m proud of you. Go out and be a leader.'”

The son of the late Quint and Sandy has done just that ever since. Mitchell and his husband, Richie, have been together for 26 years and are active in the Atlanta community.

“We’re an example of a steady relationship — gay or straight,” Mitchell said. “I feel that’s what it’s all about now. Even performing this play, it’s about getting on stage and telling the story. Do I love the experience? Absolutely. Do I need it for my ego? No. That’s a very satisfying place to get to when you’re getting into the next chapter, whatever that looks like.”