As a high school and college student, Stephen King fell in love with theater and loved it enough to scrape by as a struggling actor for several years. A proud Texas native, his career evolved when he became a teacher, but he eventually left theater to go into event production. Though he doesn’t miss the stage, he said he continues to function as a director, “directing the talent and bringing all the pieces together to make it happen.” After stints with the Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival in Fort Worth, Texas, and Celebrate Fairfax Inc. in Fairfax, Va., his latest performance is as the new executive director of the Downtown Events Group, where he will oversee major events such as the Des Moines Arts Festival and the Wells Fargo World Food Prize Festival. He and his wife, Shamaine, have three daughters: Madeleine, 11, Michal, 3, and Katherine, 3 months.

Why did you become involved in theater during high school?

A girl, Angie McDermott. She was in drama, so I got into drama.

During college, what were your theater aspirations?

Brad Pitt. Don’t you see it? Then one day I woke up. At the time, I was really just thinking food and beer and what would pay for it all. A lot of theater folks live hand to mouth, and it always keeps your passion alive when you can pay your rent and not really have to worry about it. Then I got into teaching and really liked it.

What did you enjoy about teaching?

Working with kids and creating something that was new and different. I did a lot of special events for the school, and it was a very family-oriented school so I got to know a lot of the parents, teachers – they were my friends outside school as well.

How did you meet your wife?

I was introduced to my wife by one of my students, Ashley. She was in the show, “Pride and Prejudice,” and invited Shamaine, who was a youth director at a church in Houston, to the show. We actually have it on videotape: After the show, the kids were outside in their costumes, and there we are being introduced to each other.

How did you land in event production?

When I was in Albuquerque, I had a part-time job with the university’s special events department. My partner, Steve, and I – they called us “The Steves” – worked in tandem and produced all the big concerts at The Pit, the basketball arena, and I know the first and only concert at the football stadium: the Metallica concert.

Do you miss theater?

I don’t think I do. Fort Worth and Virginia didn’t really have strong theater programs anywhere, and in this business, you don’t really have a lot of free time for that sort of thing. If you’re going to direct or act in a theater production, it’s a 16- or 20-week commitment. It just makes it impossible.

What do you enjoy about this business?

I think the biggest thing is that it allows me to do the kinds of things I did as a director. It really is about directing, and not just the talent but the production piece of it. It’s about having that ultimate goal in mind and then bringing all the pieces together to make it happen. I also like the fact that even though it might be the same event year after year, it’s always changing, which makes it very, very exciting.

How do you take in the arts?

I visit as many museums as I possibly can and I visit art festivals across the country. I’m a terrible person to go to an arts festival with because I try to figure out, “Why did they put that over there?” And obviously with my theater background, I love performance. But I’m kind of a theater snob. When you do that for a living and actually participate in it, you’re far more critical.

Do you try to expose your children to the arts as well?

Oh, absolutely. Madeleine and Michal both are their own theater. Michal likes to teach me ballet in the kitchen. And Madeleine, if you can just stand on the other side of her door to her bedroom, she’d be happy to perform for you. She has a full-length mirror on the other side of her door, so she’s often singing…often, often singing…loudly. She has some great acting talent and I know that’s something she’ll excel in.

What do you and your wife and daughters like to do for fun?

Sleep. We feel so bad for our kids because we have careers that have the absolute worst schedules you can think of. She has to work on Sundays, and most of the time I’m working seven days a week when we start ramping up toward a festival. We’re one of those families where when we get time together, we try to spend it together as opposed to doing something that would be distracting for everybody.

Would you like to go back to Texas?

Oh, my wife and I will definitely retire to Texas. There’s no question. It doesn’t matter where we end up; we will retire to the hill country in Texas.