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Getting into a brawl and maybe even a shoot-out or two this weekend is what Dan Lemieux is planning. If everything turns out accordingly, he will then throw himself off the nearest rooftop.

Afterward, he'll come to Fullerton College and act like a madman.

Lemieux, who on weekends works as a stuntman at Knott's Berry Farm and Magic Mountain, is currently portraying Captain Ahab in FC theatre department's rendition of "Moby Dick Rehearsed."

Though Ahab is perceived by many as maniacally obsessed with the great white whale he is chasing, Lemieux sees him in a different light.

"'1 don't see him as crazy," he said."He's just) driven."

Lemieux would understand how it is to be driven. It is arguable that it is his drive that has helped him to earn a master's degree in fine arts by the age of 24; to cite an impressive list of 40 theatre productions in which he has acted, and to gain a position as an adjunct faculty member of a nationally recognized theatre program (FC's) by the age of 27.

It could also be said it is his persistent drive that allows Lemieux to say that it is his acting career that has paid the bills since he has left college-an accomplishment not many in the field can claim. Modestly, Lemieux gives the credit to good luck.

Luck probably has more to do with the fact that throughout his three-year career as a stuntman he has only suffered minor injuries. His clean safety record stands as an accomplishment in itself due to the fact that Lemieux has never had any special training in the art of being a fall guy. The knowledge comes more from on-the-job training and a swapping of skills with fellow stuntmen.

"I specialize in fighting with swords ... so I might teach one guy about sword skills and he might teach me how to fall off a building," he said.

Lemieux puts these skills to good use at Knott's Berry Farm in the "Wild West Stunt Show" and the comic-based "Batman" action show at Magic Mountain. Ironically, endangering life and limb is Lemieux's idea of "a day off."

Perhaps his conception of what a day off from work should be is due to the fact that Lemieux rarely experiences a real one. Between his three different places of employment, theatrical auditions and any productions he is working on, he 'finds himself working seven days a week.

Now, with "Moby Dick Rehearsed," Lemieux found himself wearing more hats than even he, himself, was prepared for.

Initially, the part of Ahab had been granted to a student but that person was soon unable to fill the role. Lemieux filled the void and soon found himself overwhelmed. As co-director of the production, alongside FC theatre instructor Bob Jensen, Lemieux was in the unaccustomed and difficult position of directing and acting.

"I had directed before, but I never had to direct in a production in, which I was acting." he said."It's very difficult to do."

To don both of these hats perhaps, he started to feel as if "I have two big heads on my shoulders."

The secret seemed to him to keep both heads separate and concentrate on their own duties.

Lemieux often found that while in rehearsal he felt an urge to be directing while he was onstage, but was careful to try to keep from confusing what he as an actor wanted from the scene with what he as a director needed. He found techniques and an able directing partner quite helpful.

"I would often write notes about whatever it was I wanted or needed and then give them to Bob... like I would say 'tell Ahab to slow down' and let Bob direct me in that. And he's been great with saying 'worry about the acting ... ' and that helps me to focus on the techniques of acting."

Those techniques Lemieux learned from Western Michigan University, where he earned a bachelor's in fine arts, and the graduate program at the Goodman School of the at DePaul University. However, an education in the art of acting was not Lemieux's initial motivation for attending college.

"I was going to play hockey," he said. Which was not a far-fetched idea for the 6' 2"; 205 lbs. native-Canadian. His father was a professional ice hockey player who taught him how to play as a child. The senior Lemieux played for Montreal and Vancouver. Later, he coached the farm team for the Detroit Red Wings.

Though he had inherited his father's love of the game (and perhaps his driven spirit) it was his sister who introduced him in college to his first love acting. He's been faithfully hooked since. So much so that there seems to be little time for any other type of love. Lemieux seems to want to keep his private life just that, though he does admit to occasionally trying to find a pickup game of hockey that is.

After being in the Los Angeles area for 18 months and at FC for just a year, he is impressed with the quality of the theatre program on campus.

"It's really. great," he said. "It reminds m~ of the undergraduate program I was in (at Western Michigan).< The staff, the work they do, the productions are all just great."

The feeling seems to be mutual. Members of the cast of "Moby Dick" and students of his Movement for Actors class have only "great" things to say about Lemieux. "He has a lot of insight for (a man) his age," said theatre arts major Johnny Petersen, 24.

Lemieux shares this insight on "Moby Dick"with just one comment to the~FC population and offers no apology for his bluntness "They have to come see this play!"