Rancher/actor cast as state senator

Above: Sen. Davis played Mr. Jones in a community theater production of “The Corn is Green” in Mount Dora, Florida in 1987.

“Death at the High School Reunion” never appeared on Broadway, but one of its playwrights—Sen. Al Davis—presents a familiar scenario: alumni grudgingly attend their high school reunion, where their youthful wrongdoings and melodramatic stereotypes resurface. Davis, his wife Dottie and several other Hyannis community residents collaborated on writing the script.

The play was performed at the Hyannis community theater and offered audiences a valuable moral of the story: do not judge people by their youthful indiscretions.

“It was actually a pretty good play—very well received in the community,” Davis said of his production.

Davis met his wife when she traveled from her hometown of Lincoln to attend one of his early productions. Dottie has been actively involved in community theater ever since.

“She is more of a behind-the-scenes person,” he said. “But we have gotten her to perform in several shows and she is really very good at it.”

Davis has written and performed in many other musicals, comedies and dramas throughout his life. His writing and theatrical skills were further developed while studying theater at New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His higher education began at Creighton University in Omaha and he graduated from the University of Denver in 1978, with a degree in history and economics.

Davis said his interest in politics stemmed from his politically involved parents, who met at the 1948 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. His father was especially interested in economic development and was involved in planning roads through the Nebraska Sandhills, serving on the State Highway Commission for many years.

“I think, no matter where you live, you can make a change in the community by being involved in it,” Davis said, who served on his local tourism committee, chamber of commerce and arts council and was a school board member for 30 years.

He also was a founding member and officer of the Independent Cattlemen of Nebraska and currently serves on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board as one of the 103 members who oversees the Beef Checkoff.

Davis currently owns a ranch in Hyannis. He said the declining population, education and health care needs in Western Nebraska are primary concerns of his, adding that seven counties in his large district are at risk of losing half of their population by 2033.

He said he wants to address two other issues while serving in the Legislature: tax reform and state tourism. The state must consider overhauling its tax system and seek additional state revenue sources to promote ecotourism in rural areas, he said.

“We have the wildlife in abundance in the Sandhills,” Davis said. “We just need the visitors.”