Man Smitten by Dog, Incident Sends Him to the Tony Awards

Actor, student, author and Tony Award winner are just a few of the roles that Haddam resident William Berloni has taken on over the years. The one that is closest to his heart however, is his tireless work and support of rescue animals.

"I'm getting this award for excellence in theater through my work with animals. It's not hard to be excellent when I work with those who have an absolute absence of malice, are forgiving and enjoy working in the moment," Berloni says.

Berloni has learned quite a bit about life through his work with animals. "The greatest thing I've learned is not about dominance and control, but about the process of  cooperation," he shares, "I try to apply all those lessons from working with animals in my daily life."

Berloni got his start at the Goodspeed Opera House where he was charged with finding and training a dog to play Sandy in the original production of Annie. Recently, Berloni was a keynote speaker at a celebrating the 35th anniversary of Annie that honored the production's original creative team.

"Everything has been so wonderful for me as I'm looking back over my career. Going back to the theater where it all started is quite moving," he says, "they gave me my destiny and being able to be a keynote speaker for them was very meaningful."

Berloni gave the keynote speech that evening in his original white satin Annie production jacket in honor of where it all started. The jackets were given to the crew when the play moved from the Goodspeed onto Broadway.

Over the years, Berloni has worked with a variety of animals of  "all species and sizes." The animals have all been discovered in shelters, humane societies or rescue leagues. The furry stars have gotten their big breaks on Broadway, off-Broadway, at the New York City Ballet, performed in special events, in motion pictures, television and commercials. Some have even gone on national tours. 

The animals return to Berloni's Connecticut farm at the end of their performance careers. As of this publication, he has 19 dogs, 2 cats and 4 horses amongst a host of other friends that include a donkey, llama, baby chicks and a macaw.

In addition to training the original Sandy, Berloni also trained the dog for the revival performance of Annie on Broadway. When asked if he had used any different training techniques that he may have learned in the 20 or so years in between, he replied, "I'm always learning and looking to learn new things. The animals are always teaching me, so yes."

"I have the dream job, I get to work with the animals and get to change the social consciousness."

Berloni's book, Broadway Tails, details Berloni's tale, his career, his love of animals and how he has "trained" actors to work with animals.

Berloni is a 1989 graduate of CCSU with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He was a theater major and has the distinction of  being the first CCSU graduate to win a Tony Award. 

"I've always been proud to say I'm from Haddam," Berloni beams,  "we need to tout our 'nutmegness'; I love to say I'm from Connecticut."

The Tony Awards ceremony will take place on sunday, June 12th at the Beacon Theatre and will be broadcast live on CBS at 8/7c and on PBS.

On winning a Tony distinction, Berloni says he still can't believe it. "The fact that I can use it as a platform to talk about animals is amazing."