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By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net

Dr. David Schmeidler jogs, rides motorcycles, sees patients, tests new drugs for the pharmaceutical market and acts in theater productions. On a typical day, he's on the go from 5 a.m. until 6:30 or 7 p.m. When he's working on a play or melodrama, he stays busy until late at night.

Schmeidler, a regular actor with the Cherokee Strip Land Rush Museum Players, is directing his first melodrama for the museum. "Pony Expresso" is his directorial debut, and the last chance to see it is tonight, Saturday, April 30, at the museum on U.S. 77 just south of Arkansas City.

"Rehearsals are coming along well," he said recently. "We have a good crew, good actors and it should be very funny."

Schmeidler says he's not exactly Patch Adams but he does believe that laughter is the best medicine for people in a world that can seem overwhelmingly serious.

"That's why I like melodrama," he said. "It's meant to entertain, not to be taken seriously. Life is too short to be serious all the time."

He likes playing different roles, especially the role of a villain.

"I enjoy being on stage, getting into different characters and letting loose," Schmeidler said. "In the theater there are no constraints. You can be happy, goofy, serious and get to walk into somebody else's shoes."

Learning lines comes easy to him, Schmeidler said. It's not that difficult because theater productions tend to have memorable plots.

"You might not have it in order, but you know where the part is going," he said. "Your role is to keep it going. You do have to focus on the cue lines."

Schmeidler said his acting experience sometimes helps him empathize with patients he sees in his medical practice. He can more quickly "read" them by noting facial expressions and gestures.

Growing up in Wichita, Schmeidler was the second oldest of 10 children. "You've got to be colorful (in a big family)," he said.

His father was a truck driver and later worked for a chemical manufacturing company. Meanwhile, his mother did ironing in exchange for tap dancing lessons for the four oldest boys, including David. He started tap dancing at age 4.

Schmeidler played guitar for awhile, then as a student at Bishop Carroll High School he became active in drama. He played Schroeder in "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown."

After graduating from Bishop Carroll in 1972, he attended Kansas Newman College (Newman University) and later earned his medical degree from the University of Kansas Medical School.

Schmeidler said he went to medical school on a scholarship agreement in which his tuition was waved if he agreed to practice medicine in a rural area of Kansas.

"There was a shortage of rural doctors and you'd get a stipend of so much per month," he said. "You were committed to one year of practice (in a rural area) for every year they supported you."

Schmeidler came to Arkansas City in 1982 on such a deal and ended up staying here for 23 years and counting, he said.

He and his wife, Karen, have four grown children.

"The Arkansas City arts community is what impressed me while I was in medical school," he said. "But when I came here I realized there were a lot of opportunities."

Schmeidler said the community shows its high regard for the arts by staging the annual Prairiefest celebration, bringing topnotch performers to Cowley College's Brown Center, and producing concerts and melodramas featuring local talent.

"Ark City has a lot to offer in regards to the arts," he said.

Above: In his spare time, David Schmeidler, center, directs and acts in ³Pony Expresso² at the Cherokee Strip Land Rush Museum melodrama. He is flanked by Rene Webb, left, and Donna Prichard in a scene from ³How the West Was Dun.²