Meet Paul Rohrer of Rohrering Success

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Rohrer.

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Paul. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My life in the performing and visual arts started with a speech contest in Junior High School. Diagnoses of ADD or ADHD at that time were dealt with a hall pass to the Principal’s office or to a corner of the classroom, where a chair facing a corner was placed. My familiarity with those locations waned as my interest in getting applause for my creative outbursts replaced that of isolation.

Television programming such as Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and Gilligan’s Island offered witty, sarcastic and slightly “naughty” double entendre; Considered as my entry-level education towards the master of verse, story and double meanings, William Shakespeare. (see act 2, Taming of the Shrew for example.)

Upon graduation from High School, I was confused on exactly what I wanted to do and what direction I should go. I had auditioned for Goodman in Chicago and was offered a top position, however, I lacked the funding as well as any mentoring support to guide me, so at the last minute, I decided to follow friends and families influence to attend a small, liberal arts college in North Manchester, Indiana. While there, I was fortunate to work with Broadway’s Frank Ortiz and earned the lead in Tennesee William’s The Glass Menagerie. Having run out of money for further education and lacking any real direction other than a strong love for the arts, I took a hard left turn in 1976 to join BVS. Brethren Volunteer Service (president Kennedy used BVS as the format with which Peace Corps was then developed.) I was trained and assigned a Juvenile Testing and Referral Center wherein I developed and taught a theatre based program in the PSA classroom. Our greatest testament and reward for performance in the public park, was when the local Police interrupted the final scene of Zoo Story with guns drawn.

After spending a short time in LA, realizing I was neither ready for film work nor interested in the lifestyle, I settled in Boulder where a former Youth Center Colleague offered me a job and shared apartment, cinching the deal with mention of burgeoning theatre and film work around the area. From 1980 till 1984, I was introduced to studies with Casting Directors, Marvin Paige, Cliff Osmond, Mike Fenton and Lynn Stalmaster. Other luminaries with whom I worked were Dabney Coleman, Lee Purcell, Tony Barr, Molli Benson and Steve Railsback. I was finally ready for the camera and while working as a full time actor at the Arvada Center, I was cast in my first on camera commercial, introducing the future of voting on computers in 1984. From 1984 though 1999, I was cast in more than 500 leading roles in commercial broadcast and industrial training programs. Feature length, studio-based films and television added to my resume and have allowed me to introduce and train many of the well recognized professionals in the industry today.

Theatrical performances have ranged in thousands of hours with many companies the last of which provided full time living wages at the Arvada Center, working as both Children’s Theatre and Main Stage Productions until 1984. Since then, I have produced numerous audiobooks for Audible, voiced numerous commercials and animated projects, and published two books, the first, independently and the second with Players Press.

Most recently, in 2015, I have created a partnership with friend and former student, Steve Austin. He runs a franchised and successful acting workshop in Colorado Springs entitled The Actor’s Voice. Together, we train working professionals as well as aspiring young and old.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Having studied the programs offered by sales, promotion and motivational giants like Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar and Russell H. Conwell, I was given insight and suggestions of how to deal with the setback, struggles and challenges that are inherent with this industry. One of the most memorable suggestions was given me following a study session with famed Tony Barr. He told me, “Never give up and don’t let the bastards wear you down.”

In the early nineties, while working as the principal in an industrial commercial highlighting the “freedom of being cut free of the linear restrictions of magnetic tape-based editing to non-linear digital editing,” I was literally wrapped in one-inch magnetic tape from shoulder to waist. Then, while delivering the memorized copy, a stagehand was to reach up with very sharp garden shears to cut me free from the bonds of magnetic tape. It was all going perfectly, as my delivery was spot on and the shears entered the frame and I felt the bondage drop away. As the camera rolled, I saw the eyes of the director and camera operator suddenly shift and widen. Almost immediately, I felt something warm and strangely wet on my left wrist and hand. Ignoring what shortly would be too obvious to ignore, I was clipped just above the outside wrist and blood was beginning to pour from the wound. Committed to the job’s completion, the wound was secured and the job finished as trained, on time and on budget.

Grateful to my training, other hardships and obstacles that are a part of all seasoned actors, “the show goes on.” When talent is prepared and trained properly, the majority of mistakes, faux pas and difficulties are rarely known or observed by the outsider or untrained eye. It is a sort of pride and honor one develops as you train and work.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Rohrering Success – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Of the many and varied theatrical and commercial jobs I have earned, several experiences and opportunities stand head and shoulders above all others. The following experiences that I will share are a part of the well, from which I draw my knowledge, and skill to share with students and partners in the jobs and presentations we create.

A most creative team of visionaries with whom I have had the greatest honor and privilege to work, train and have to provide workshop space, were three brothers; Steve, Phil & Gary Pettit of Starwest Productions. Always on the cutting edge, I was involved in the creation of live events, voice over and film work as well as fundraisers, and a project that would have rivaled any major studio themed park of the time, Earth Center USA.

While working with the Starwest team, I was introduced to Disney Designer, Jerry Kannapinn and L.A. based writer, soon to become a talent agent and business partner, Peter DeAnello.

Together, Peter and I hosted numerous workshops featuring many of Hollywood and New York’s finest talent, casting directors, writers and mentors of the industry. We trained and developed many of the successful and working class talent that you would recognize in the local, regional and national areas of writing, casting, talent management and acting.

In 2010 through 2013, I created, hosted and produced The Roaring Success Radio Hour that shared many of the great names with whom I have worked and others with whom I wish I had worked; feeling most privileged to have shared radio discussion time.

Since then, I have voiced many books as a voice talent, voice actor and production designer. That has led to a 2019 opportunity to write, produce, voice and design sound for a new display featured at the Door County Maritime Museum in Wisconsin.

The ongoing workshops which continue to meet weekly in both Littleton and Colorado Springs have been in existence since 1986. I have personally trained many of the coaches who are now working and training other students in their own studios as well as Talent Agents, Producers and Presenters.

The Rohrering (Roaring) Success and Actors Voice Workshops provide a challenging no-nonsense and realistic approach to learning the craft and business of the business. We do very little advertising, always relying on word of mouth and internal industry support as our means of success and continuance.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Besides continued voice acting and on-camera work for myself, my business partner, Steve Austin and I continue to expose, train and challenge both aspiring and professional talent to grow, work and experience the ever changing world of acting, presentation and personal development.

The workshops are now developing and producing short subject series and stand alone projects. The first episode is currently in post production and will be released on my YouTube channel in the next few weeks. Students are challenged and supported to write, produce and direct as well as act in these projects that will provide demo reel and experience-based support to their expanding knowledge and expertise.

In addition to the acting workshops, I am currently partnered in a program that has been seeking funding to create viable, scalable solutions to immigration and its inherent problems and opportunities for successes for all.

Contact Info:

• Address: Littleton- Rohrering Success Workshops – Paul Neal Rohrer – Held every Tuesday 6-9 pm
  RSI – 1101 W. Mineral, Littleton, CO. 80120Colorado Springs- The Actors Voice – Stephen Austin – Held every Tuesday 6-9 pm
  The Cottonwood Center 427 E Colorado Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
• Website: http://roaringsuccess.org/rohrering-success-acting-workshop and https://theactorsvoiceworkshop.com/
• Phone: (303) 688-5027 Please leave a message.
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credit:
2012 me & Ben Vereen
2015 My Book Cover
2003 BTS – Silver City – L-R David Clennon, me, Richard Dreyfuss, Billy Zane
2012 Roaring Success Radio Hour – Lannie Garrett & me.
1982 C.D. Mike Fenton & me.
2018 Naomi Grossman (PEPPER of American Horror Story) & me.
2013 me, Joe Piscopo & co-producer, Anthony Musco.
2017 me & Rick Ramage (writer, director)

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