Jeff Howell has spent most of the past 29 years of his career on Pittsburgh stages.

But this actor, who stars in Saint Vincent Theatre's current production "A Bench in the Sun," said he owes it all to the Yellow Pages.

Mr. Howell, a native of Alabama, said he and his wife, Jane, were visiting her parents in McKeesport in 1980 when he flipped open the Pittsburgh Yellow Pages on a whim.

They had just concluded their studies at the University of Alabama -- he with a degree in theater, she with a master's in piano performance -- and were looking for a mid-sized city in which to settle and chose Pittsburgh.

"I called every theater listed and tried to get an audition," said Mr. Howell, 59, of Mt. Lebanon. He and his wife have two sons: Ryan, 23, who lives in England, and Steve, 20, a student at George Washington University.

By the end of that day, he had several auditions set up.

"And since then," he said, "I've never stopped working."

This is Mr. Howell's second consecutive season at Saint Vincent College, where last summer he played 27 parts in two shows. He will follow his performance as Burt in "Bench" with five more parts in "Twentieth Century," which will open June 25.

He described "Bench" as a sweet comedy about aging that has as many touching scenes as funny ones, especially between his character and his best friend, Harold, played by Greg Thornton.

"Audiences will especially like our fight scene," he said. "It's cane vs. fork." The play also stars Pat Reilly as Adrienne.

He has appeared in more than 50 productions with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, including 14 seasons as Bob Cratchit in "A Christmas Carol." He also played the narrator in the Pittsburgh Symphony Opera's version of Jerome Kern's "Showboat" in February, under the direction of Marvin Hamlisch.

Mr. Howell has several commercials to his credit, including ones for Iron City beer and Giant Eagle stores. He also teaches acting at Point Park University.

He said that when he first settled in Pittsburgh, the local acting community was smaller, and there were fewer parts available.

"I beat the bushes, went to every audition held anywhere," he said of his efforts to build a career. "I was constantly in someone's face. And it paid off."

He noted that he has had several stretches over the past three decades where he's performed in 12 productions in 12 months, an employment record most New York- or Los Angeles-based actors can only dream of.

"I remember talking to some New York actors during a production I was in at the Pittsburgh Public Theater," he said. "They said this was the first time they'd been onstage in two years."

"When you're an actor in Pittsburgh, you don't wait tables. We actually get to act."

He pointed out that many national performers are surprised by the strength and diversity of Pittsburgh's theater scene, calling the city the best-kept secret in the theater world.

"And we've got to keep it a secret," he said. "So I can keep working!"

Mr. Howell has worked in other cities, including New York and L.A., but said that Pittsburgh is home, and that he's never believed he's had to give up anything by staying here.

He said some of the high points of his career have been working with Sarah Jessica Parker in "Equal Justice," a critically acclaimed television series in the early 1990s, and with Jack Nicholson during the filming of "Hoffa" in 1992.

He also pointed to meeting Christopher Durang during the City Theater's specially commissioned production of the award-winning playwright's "Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge" in 2002.

Mr. Howell said over the years he's been in musicals, plays, films, television series and commercials, and has met Tony- and Oscar-winning performers and writers.

Looking back, he said some might consider his "an odd kind of career," but that he remembers a conversation he had with his fellow acting students at the University of Alabama as they approached the end of their studies.

"They asked us, 'When you graduate, what do you want to do?' And most said, 'I want to go to Broadway,' or 'I want to go to L.A.,' " he said.

"I answered, 'I just want to do the best work I can with the best people I can.' And that's exactly how it's ended up."