Meet Doug Voegtle

COMPOSER

Black and white photo of a young man with curly hair playing drums in a music studio.
Three people dressed in formal and semi-formal attire standing together, smiling for a photo at an event or celebration.
A gray, winding line on a white background

Dad played trombone and led a big band. Mom loved singing and the spotlight.
They inspired me.

A Dominican nun taught me to play snare drum in third grade. Those lessons led to a 15-year career as a drummer in Chicagoland rock, jazz, and funk bands. What sparked my interest in musicals was the 1968 film Funny Girl.

In college I played Schroeder in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, There, the children’s theatre director encouraged me to write one-act kids’ plays. The Strangest Show On Earth and Star Kids vs. the Creature from a Red Planet were both produced by the Children’s Workshop at Northeastern Illinois University.

A young man playing piano and a woman singing into a microphone.

Doug performing in 1976 with Kathleen Reilley

After studying improvisation with Jo Forsberg at Players Workshop of Second City in 1981, I joined the teaching staff which led to more composing opportunities including: a seven-song score for Space Kids Explore the Stars (prod. by Second City Children’s Theatre, story by Linnea Forsberg, lyrics by Carol Gold); songs for improv revues, and incidental music for Humanities and Other Concepts, directed by Martin de Maat.

A black and white photo of six people, three men and three women, posing together. The woman in the front center is wearing large glasses and has short curly hair. The woman on the right has dark skin and wearing a polka dot blouse. The woman on the left has long, curly hair and is holding papers. The man on the far left has a hat and mustache. The woman in the middle back is wearing a large hat and glasses. The man on the far right has curly hair and a loosened tie. They are all looking at the camera with serious expressions.

In 1983 I wrote and produced Waiting Lines, an original musical revue of songs and improvised scenes based on one theme: waiting. In eight weeks I composed a dozen songs. The Chicago Tribune’s Richard Christiansen wrote a favorable review.

After seeing work by award-winning playwright Claudia Allen (The Long Awaited), we collaborated on an original musical story about four generations of women and the power of family rituals. The unproduced show (Halley’s Comet) is still on my mind.

In 2005 I joined John Spark’s Musical Theatre Writers’ Workshop in Chicago with the intention of adapting a play by Peter Ustinov. There I met a great friend, collaborator, and an endless source of musical insights: Steve Delchamps.

Our homework was to musicalize the dénouement of Stephen Metcalfe’s play Strange Snow. The exercise grew into a two-act musical, Opening Day that was produced by Stages, a festival of new musicals in 2007 and 2009. We also collaborated with playwright Luther Goins on an original 15-minute musical: One Day in December.

Separately, I’ve composed a song cycle based on poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay; art songs inspired by James Agee; a few spec sitcom scripts; short stories; a Pepsi TV spot; and years of unpublished poetry.

Black and white photo of a group of seven young men outdoors, some standing and some sitting on the grass, dressed in casual 1970s style clothing.

Jazz/rock drumming days; Doug is back row center

As the Education Director at Players Workshop Chicago Doug leads a year-long course in theatre improvisation. He and Lou live in Warrenville IL. They support the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Doug sends love to his parents (RIP), who sparked his joy of music and theater, and to his sons Gregory and Grant.

A middle-aged man with glasses, smiling, wearing a grey button-down shirt against a plain grey background.

Steve has composed songs, penned poetry and plays, developed original musicals, and adapted works into musical theatre. But his true love is the craft of character-driven lyric writing. Steve supports his musical theatre habit with freelance technical writing gigs, and he can hold his own in a conversation with Fermi physicists.

He admires shows like Bat Boy, Legally Blonde, Floyd Collins, and Carousel.

meet steve
The image showcases two large, stylized quotation marks.

‘Lines’: Drawn with Promise

This show has a few sketches that almost come off . . . a Sondheim-esque score of bittersweet urbanity by Douglas Voegtle . . . and some of his songs are not bad at all.

RICHARD CHRISTIANSEN, Theatre & Film Critic, Chicago Tribune (1978 - 2002)

Black and white cartoon drawing of a long line of people waiting outside a theater with a sign that says "Waiting Lines," with a taxi at the bottom of the image.
Two large gray quotation marks facing different directions