Closing his eyes, he breathes in the color yellow and exhales the color blue.

He moves his fingers, twiddling one by one like a wave, reflecting on a past that has made him into this passionate and eloquently strange being that he is.

This being is Ed Romine, a theater arts teacher and dreamer of imagination and thought. Romine has been teaching at City College for 21 years and has touched the souls of many students through his instruction.

“I like to get inside the heads and hearts of the students,” Romine said. “I like to mess with them.”

Romine studied at Bates College, where he changed his major from astronomy to math, English to sociology.

He realized his fire for acting when he auditioned for a play. He was criticized for lack of involvement and “being afraid,” which didn’t land him the part.

“I thought to myself, ‘they criticized ME?’ I had something to prove and it caught my imagination and I wanted to prove I could make a living in theater so I went for it,” Romine said.

Romine moved to Santa Barbara in 1973, and began to act in local plays through the Santa Barbara Theater Group. He met his future wife while working at Radio Shack.

Romine turned up the flirt as his future wife walked through the door and found out she was coincidentally from Maine as well, although they had never met.

“It seemed like fate,” Romine said. “When I found out she was from Maine, I flirted outrageously.”

Romine also loves writing, singing, drawing, painting watercolor and teaching.

In a room where the walls are painted a faint banana yellow and no desks are found, students’ senses become heightened, as Romine is the conductor of the orchestra that is theater.

Surrounded by crimson-colored love seats and a ragged blue couch, the students are at mercy to Romine’s world of madness.

Classmates become friends in beginning acting, as hugs are an essential part of everyday activity. Two of the rules of the class are: “you have to play” and “Ed is the boss.”

Romine daily sports his favorite pair of black ragged Vans tennis shoes, light blue jeans and cotton polo with two distinct buttons at the top. He moves about the class in a big-kid-like manner, as he sits on top of his desk, hands folded, giggling.

Being that Romine acted for quite some time, Rick Mokler, director and teacher at City College, has had experience working with Romine.

“Ed is a true believer,” Mokler said. “He is one of the core group of acting teachers at City College. His classes are a wild ride.”

Student Michael Johnson, who took Romine’s class in the fall of ’05, said Romine has a strong ability to bring out an emotional being in his students.

“Ed is a genius, period,” Johnson said. “He knows how to tap into the deepest part of a person’s soul and bring out this emotional state that we usually try to hold inside of us.”

Creating a “psychic” space for one’s own being is a big part of how acting is possible. Students are instructed to create this space by closing their eyes, making an imaginary bubble and letting go of all harm emotionally.

“You have to use your own body and voice to express human messages,” Romine said to his students.

Romine said acting is “exerting influence on another person.”

Romine teaches in the course, to be a “controlled schizophrenic,” meaning being able to shift characters, emotions and body language in an instant.

Another goal of acting, according to Romine, is to make sure the audience “gets what it feels like to be human.” Although he has always been “accused of being bear-like,” Romine added he also has a “dragon hood” heart, as it is mysterious and strong.

“I’m harmless, although frightening at first acquaintance,” Romine giggled.