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Larry Sellers, Dr. Quinn's 'Cloud Dancing' comes to Rolla for one-man show

Monday, May 8, 2006 8:42 AM CDT

Martin W. Schwartz

Larry Sellers said he had no original desires to be a television star, much less a stand-up comedian. Known best as Cloud Dancing from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Sellers is bringing his own unique stage show to the Cedar Street Center for the Arts this Saturday.

Born and raised in Oklahoma (”I’m going to have to ask you not to tell the town because of this stalker situation, he said), Sellers worked as a consultant with the Arizona State Department of Education/Division of Indian Education before landing his first job as a Hollywood stuntman.

“I guess you could say I literally fell into the business,” Sellers said. “I used to rodeo and then I got the opportunity to do live stunts and get paid to fall off a horse. As lousy as I was then, that sounded pretty good.”

Sellers said he learned how to do car stunts, high falls and fire gags. After trying standup comedy, he concentrated on acting classes and was “accidentally” hired to do a few shows before landing his best known role on Doctor Quinn.


“Everybody I worked with on that show was absolutely wonderful. They’re just really good people,” he said. “Plus it was a good outlet for indigenous people. It was the first show in the history of television in which some of the writing, especially the native aspects, had native thought incorporated into the writing.”

Sellers said he had never thought about a career in entertainment until it actually happened to him. “Growing up in Oklahoma, especially when I was a kid, our education was based more on how to be in a service-related field. They never would have thought to teach us how to run a business, only to work for somebody else.”

Sellers one-man show, which he will present here Saturday, touches on some of those issues. In five comedy-drama vignettes, Sellers says he hopes to entertain while reinforcing good traditional values.

“We’re looking at it from the standpoint of traditional tribal values and a lot of those values emphasize honor, dignity and integrity. The very foundation that indigenous people have survived for thousands of years in the societies that they have functioned in had to do with respect,” he said.

The five monologues presented were written by Seller’s son, Jerry “Wolfman” Wolf and are a mixture of humor and drama with a strict PG-14 rating. “It’s not vulgar or cursing language, but there are things in there I wouldn’t a young child to hear,” he said.

The is presented by the society for the Preservation of Traditional Values in conjunction with East Central College in Rolla. Sellers feels the messages conveyed in the performance will transcend all belief systems in reinforcing themes of honor, kindness and spirituality. “Spirituality doesn’t need me defending it,” he said. “Spirituality will stand on its own.”

Above all, Sellers said he hopes to entertain the audience with simple stories about being human. “If someone in the audience takes away just one thing, one thought, one laugh, then I will have achieved what I set out to do,” he said.

Larry Sellers will appear for one show at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 13th at the Cedar Street Center for the Arts, 7th and Cedar in Rolla. Tickets are $10 and are available at the East Central College — Rolla office