Actor portraying BC&S character develops ‘split personality’

At Stephens College, Rob Doyen is well known not only as the chairman of the Theater Department but also as the first man to get a degree from the historic women’s college. In Columbia’s business community, particularly among newcomers, he’s known as Stuart Throckmorton, the Business Conference & Showcase fanatic.

Doyen’s favorite story about living with dual personalities is from the time last year when he went to get his car repaired by Doug Privitt at Privitt Auto Service Center on West Sexton Road, the shop he’s been using for more than 18 years.

“Doug said, ‘Hey, Rob, there’s a guy in town who looks just like you.’ I said, ‘Yeah, they say everyone has a twin somewhere in the world.’ He said, ‘No, I mean he was the spitting image of you. His name was Stuart something.”’

The Throckmorton character was developed by Visionworks Marketing & Communications, and this is Doyen’s second year in the lead role of the advertising campaign that promotes the annual event.

Doyen, or Throckmorton, first appeared in a television commercial played at a Chamber of Commerce quarterly breakfast last year. He was camping out in front of the Holiday Inn Select Executive Center to make sure he was the first in line to get into the BC&S event and talked about all the prizes and freebies he was planning to collect.

“I worked with Dan Corkery (director of electronic media at Visionworks) to come up with a nerdy type of character, a fussbudget, who’s also gadgety and energetic, an eight-cups-of-coffee-in-the-morning kind of guy,” Doyen said.

This year, the character’s theme was getting in shape for the BC&S. He made a personal appearance this time at the Chamber’s winter breakfast, carrying weights and dressed in a jogging suit with a white headband.

“The whole point was to throw a shot of energy into the event,” said Doyen, who delivered a passionate pitch to get people to register for the conference seminars.

Judging by the applause, he was a hit, and some people at the tables were heard saying, “Who is that guy.”

Doyen came to Columbia 25 years ago as a junior at Stephens. He was one of two men allowed to be full-time students long enough to graduate, and he earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. “My last name starts with ‘D’ and his started with ‘H,’ so I was designated as the first.”

Doyen moved to New York to start his acting career, but was lured back to Stephens in 1982 to teach in the theater department. He lives on East Walnut Street, close enough to walk to work.

“I just love this town,” Doyen said. His daughter Danielle is an actress who recently graduated from Stephens and is now living in Los Angeles, and his daughter Emily is now attending Stephens, majoring in fashion design.
Doyen will appear in character at the BC&S on the morning of March 6 in the Visionworks booth.

“If people come up to me and say, ‘Hi Stuart,’ I’ll stay in character, and if they say, ‘Hi Rob,’ I’ll be myself,” Doyen said. “I’ll be a little bit of a split personality that morning.”