At this stage in his life

Play's humanity hits home for actor, teacher and cancer survivor

CHAPEL HILL -- Kenneth P. Strong has loudly pronounced a dictionary's worth of words over a quarter century at PlayMakers Repertory Company.

From Shakespeare to Chekhov, Steinbeck to Albee, from a whisper to a scream, he has made it clear to theater audiences that there's little he'd shy away from.

But his biggest role ever is one he didn't volunteer for: brain cancer survivor. And in this role, he is uncharacteristically reticent. He'd rather not say the word at all, opting instead to gently touch the 6-inch scar above his right ear and say quietly, "This."

In March 2006, Strong was starring as the conflicted young preacher in PlayMakers' production of "God's Man in Texas." He didn't know he had a tumor the size of a tennis ball growing in his brain.

Twenty months later, after a nine-hour surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Strong is back in a starring role as the aviator in "The Little Prince," Rick Cummins and John Scoullar's adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's beloved novella.

Stranded in a desert, Saint-Exupéry's semi-autobiographical aviator discovers what's truly meaningful in his life. He meets a strange little prince from another planet who has traveled the universe seeking wisdom. Transformed by the encounter, the aviator wants to share his newfound philosophy.

Strong is eager to share it, too, having arrived at the same conclusions on his own journey.

A last-minute discovery

Strong didn't know how sick he was during "God's Man in Texas." He was tired and queasy and had severe headaches. But even his doctor couldn't figure out why.

Tests had eliminated the possibility of Epstein-Barr virus, Strong says, but Rocky Mountain spotted fever remained a possibility. A nature lover, he figured he must have been bitten by a tick while hiking. So his doctor prescribed medication for it.

But his headaches grew, and his left side began to feel strange and numb in parts. He also began to detest the smell of coffee and the taste of chocolate -- two strange developments he didn't think to mention at the time.

Through it all, he never missed a performance.

"That's what I would call old-school dedication to craft," says Ray Dooley, a UNC professor and PlayMakers actor who has performed with Strong in countless productions. "He's that rare combination of somebody who is physically strong and emotionally generous and absolutely dedicated to his work and his colleagues."

With "God's Man" still running at six performances a week, Strong began rehearsing for PlayMakers' next production, "Cyrano de Bergerac," all on top of his three-course teaching schedule.

It was too much. He withdrew from "Cyrano" in early April, his first time abandoning a role. He felt sheepish, unable to cite an ailment. But he knew he had to rest.

It didn't help. And when he started vomiting black bile, he'd had enough.

"I wanted to get struck by lightning, to zap everything back into order," he recalls. Instead, he tried a home remedy, buying a tiny bottle of alcohol at the liquor store and swigging a shot. But the next morning, he only felt worse. So he went to Durham Regional Hospital.

An MRI revealed the tumor above his right ear -- a fast-growing cancer called glioblastoma multiforme.

Doctors couldn't tell him how long it had been there. But had they not discovered it, they said, it probably would have killed him within three days.

A teacher at heart

It didn't take long for the word to spread, recalls his wife, Kee Strong, a drama teacher at Durham's Riverside High School. Letters and phone calls poured in -- from friends from his native Fayetteville and theaters across the nation, from students and local fans who'd seen his portrayals at PlayMakers -- from "God's Man" to "Uncle Vanya" and "The Laramie Project," right on back to his days as an undergraduate student at UNC in the late 1970s.