By Glen Macnow
“Theater is important because kids don’t always know how to express themselves. They worry about being judged every day. But there is no judgment in theater, and they are free to be themselves.”
Those are wise words from anyone. They’re particularly prescient from a 24-year-old who is becoming a familiar face in the Players Club Children’s Series shows.
Meet Tah’Mir Lamb, an example of how theater – and this theater in particular – can positively mold a young person.
Tah’Mir, who has become a regular in second stage children’s shows, will be performing Feb. 21 through Mar. 1 in Rapunzel! Rapunzel! A Very Hairy Fairy Tale. He also gets a producer credit for the show, directed by Dave and Julie Zaffarano.
“Rapunzel’s” stage and music director is PCS Theater Wall of Famer Teddie Psitos, who says of Tah’mir. “He’s a naturally curious young person who asks a lot of good questions. And he’s creative. We’ve incorporated some of his ideas into this production,” including, she says, a Prince-inspired hairstyle for one of the characters.
And so, Tah’mir, whose goal is to learn every aspect of the business, isn’t just in the cast of this show – he also gets an assistant producer’s credit.
Like everyone involved at PCS, Tah’mir has his inspiration story, that moment he fell in love with this wonderful theater. His came 10 years ago as an eighth grader at the Chester Charter School for the Arts (now known as Chester Charter College Academy). Brian Walden (nee Walsh) – a kindergarten teacher who also directed plays at the middle school – invited his theater students to attend his PCS production of “Hairspray.” In those days, Tah’Mir helped out Brian by teaching choreography to the younger students.
In his first visit to PCS, Tah’mir was enthralled with the singing, the choreography, the sets, the scope of the entire production. Through his teen years he performed in school musicals. And then, just before his 21st birthday, he auditioned for a role here in Little Mermaid, also directed by Julie and Dave Zaffarano.
“I was nervous,” he recalls. “It was my first time in that building not as an audience member, but as an actor, in front of a lot of people who didn’t know me. I wondered what they would think of me. Would I be funny? Would I be convincing?”
He got the part. And he has been coming back ever since.
“When I’m in front of an audience I feel like a completely different person,” Tah’Mir says. “Some people have alter egos – I forget who I am and embody whoever I’m portraying. Whether it’s a musical or serious, I move into a whole different world. My only purpose is to entertain.”
And that he does. As author of this story, let me interject with a personal story: In 2025, I took my four-year-old grandson, Gregory Macnow, to see “Miss Nelson is Missing.” At the start of the second act, cast members waded through the audience, chatting up the youngest attendees. Tah’Mir – whose character in the show was also named Gregory – warmly engaged with my grandson, who was enthralled with funny adult who shared his name. Little Gregory talked about it the entire ride home.
Tah’Mir is currently studying theater at Delaware County Community College and working at Chichester Middle School as an instructional assistant in the autistic support program. He lives in Chester, getting to Swarthmore each week by bus or Uber.
His goal in 10 years?
“Hopefully performing somewhere,” he says. “Maybe on Broadway, or on TV – in front of or behind a camera. I just want to entertain.”
