LOST Louisvillager-- who knew?

Not me, obviously.

Last night, Roommate and I attempted to see Actors Theatre's production of Doubt. I say "attempted" because about twenty minutes into the show (twenty minutes of mostly good), the whirly stage ground to a halt and stopped whirling. The voice of God came over the loudspeaker and informed us that, as it was probably going to take around "10 hours" to fix the stage, it was probably best if we didn't stick around. We re-ticketed for next Tuesday.

In the meantime, we had a chance to check out the 2008-09 season for Actors, which was just recently announced. We're of different minds about the line-up. Roommate said he thought it was as good or better than this past season; I looked through the list and had a resounding "meh" reaction.

What did interest me, however (because I am a serious geek) was the fact that Glengarry Glen Ross was listed as "starring TV's LOST's William Mapother."

I told Roommate that while the name looked familiar, I didn't recognize the name as one who plays any of the major LOST characters. (so obviously, I may be a serious geek, but not a very good one) Roommate convinced me that Mapother must play Bernard. Who I love. So I was happy.

But today-- thanks Google and imdb.com-- I discovered that William Mapother is/was (so hard to say with LOST's malliable timeline) Ethan AND a Louisvillager! (This, however, does not explain why, when you Google "William Mapother" it gives you a link to his homepage, but the description of the homepage is: "Consultant to the consumer credit industry on bankruptcy." Dual life??)

Apologies that this is probably not new news to most Louisvillagers, but remember this Lou was a New Orleanian when Mapother first appeared on LOST.

Mapother has also recently done a stint on the now cancelled K-Ville. Shame, that-- the cancellation not the appearance. Mapother graduated from St. X in 1983 (and is a fellow English Major). He's also appeared in several indie films. And he just had a birthday. Happy birthday!

The reason the name sounded familiar is that William is a Mapother of the Tom Cruise Mapother IV Mapothers and their shared great-great grandfather emigrated from Wales to Louisville in 1850.

And because this Lou can find any reason to waste tons of time online, I've since discovered that he's a very funny guy, has good taste in tv and music, has a uncannily large fan base online (a couple of his fan sites have been around for years), and is called in several places "the nicest guy you'd hope to meet."

Mapother will be appearing at Actors in August and September. Looking forward to it.

Here are links to some of his fan sites: william mapother.net and a blog.

Last year he attended the Taste of Oaks Celebrity Party. Wonder if he'll be in town this year? (okay, Mama may be crushing a little here.)