Ryon Lane stars as Captain von Trapp in ‘The Sound of Music’

By Jim Flint

You might want to rethink offering the classic theater sendoff “Break a leg!” to Ryon Lane, who currently is playing Capt. Georg von Trapp at Talent’s Camelot Theatre. It might be a little too close to home for a guy who broke his neck in 2008.

In true theatrical tradition, Lane made a stunning comeback — recovering not only to act again but to run the New York City Marathon just two years later in under three hours.

He broke his neck when he dived into a wave and hit a wandering sandbar at the beach in Santa Monica. The injury often leads to some form of paralysis.

Lane was lucky.

“I emerged without permanent physical limitations, notwithstanding new donor vertebrae and lots of titanium parts.”

The accident and recovery fundamentally changed his life.

Given a ‘do-over’

“It changed my perspective on the brevity of life, on being a dad and son and friend, and even changed my personality,” he said.

“I had a profound understanding that I was given a ‘do-over’ and I became driven to pursue and accomplish everything I always said I wanted to do.”

Lane has worked as a business affairs attorney as well as a producer of films and commercials. But he always wanted to be an actor.

He got an early start. In the fourth grade he was cast in an elementary school play. A case of the chickenpox cut that opportunity short and he never made it to the stage in that production.

A second chance presented itself the following year. In the fifth grade he was cast in a musical as P.T. Barnum. He even got to wear a fake mustache.

“The P.T. Barnum role taught me that life is like a flying trapeze: Sometimes you’re up, then you’re down,” he said. “The experience taught me to live in the moment.”

Ever since then, he has viewed acting as a form of magic. But life intervened. With good grades and great AP and SAT scores — and “very kind” parents who were willing to pay for college — he went on to a career in business and law.

Cheaper to hire himself

Many years later as a producer, he rediscovered his love for acting when he realized it was cheaper to hire himself for a job than to pay a SAG actor $800 a day.

“That led to finding a talent agent,” Lane said, “and then finding myself doing more acting in film and commercial work for clients like Apple, Salesforce, Slack and Raley’s Grocery Stores.”

That work reignited his interest in acting, a pursuit that has been front and center in recent years. A short sci-fi film he produced and acted in, “Real Artists,” earned an Emmy Award. It was screened at more than 250 film festivals worldwide, including at Cannes.

“It left me wanting to be in front of the camera more,” he said.

He owned a commercial and film production company, but he walked away from it in 2021 in order to focus solely on acting.

“While it was not an easy choice, I’ve honestly never been happier,” he said.

He says he strongly identifies with Captain von Trapp in “The Sound of Music.”

“He’s a man who has experienced overwhelming loss, who is surrounded by people he loves, and yet keeps most of them at a distance because of the pain and trauma he holds inside,” Lane said. “I spent many years in a similar place.”

The joy of teamwork

Lane particularly enjoys working with Amirah David, who plays Maria in the iconic musical.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure,” he said. “I have felt so supported on stage by Amirah and hope the feeling is mutual.”

What has been the biggest challenge of the role?

“I’m pretty sure I’m decent at acting, at singing, and even in playing the guitar, but I am not a dancer,” he said.

He credits choreographer Shannon Carter for getting him ready to dance the ländler, an Austrian folk dance. And he appreciated David’s patience during the learning phase.

“I probably stepped on her foot once or twice,” he admitted.

Having grown up and attended high school in Grants Pass, coming back to the Rogue Valley in 2021 was a homecoming. His parents still live in Grants Pass. His daughter and other family live in Portland.

When Lane’s not acting, you can find him doing other work, practicing yoga, or hiking and running on mountain trails.

Busy with stage productions

Since taking the break from producing three years ago, he has been involved in 14 local stage productions — mostly as an actor, but also as an assistant director and earlier this year as director of “The Nerd” at Barnstormers Theatre in Grants Pass.

“This year I’ve also done some print work for Harry & David and appeared in a friend’s short film,” he said, “which got me interested again in doing work in front of the camera.”

He recently signed with an agent and is excited to do some more commercial and film work.

Lane will play Stine in the Todd Nielsen-directed “City of Angels” at Camelot next spring, working opposite a friend, actor Zach Virden.

“My long-term goal is to find myself acting regularly in feature films and episodics while continuing to do stage work.”

“The Sound of Music” will run through Dec. 31 at the Camelot, 101 Talent Ave., Talent. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to camelottheatre.org.

Freelance writer Jim Flint’s “Curtain Call” column about people in the performing arts appears on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. Email him at jimflint.ashland@yahoo.com.