As a performer, Alexander Stabler recognized that his career had a shelf life and looked forward to transitioning into a new profession on his own terms. He would walk onto the stage for a final show and take in the applause one last time.
Changing Course
Instead, his ultimate appearance as a dancer and aerialist in Wynn’s Le Rêve, on March 10, 2020, would be a night like any other. “I remember nothing, unfortunately,” Stabler says. “It was just another show.”
Four days later, the cast and crew were informed that the show would close for a couple of weeks due to COVID-19. “We were getting paid. We were getting benefits. We were still employees,” Stabler says. “We were actually meeting every other week and doing Zoom rehearsals. We were all in our backyards and rehearsing choreography. We were getting ready to come back.”
Then weeks became months, and in August, Stabler and his coworkers learned that Le Rêve would stay dark permanently. But while the pandemic deprived Stabler of the stage exit he’d envisioned, it never sapped his ambition.
He shifted his focus to another of his passions, interior design. Stabler’s husband, Freddy Godínez, had recently graduated from UNLV with a degree in landscape architecture, so the two launched a new company called Fredric Alexander. Godínez created a logo, and when both men came down with COVID in July 2020, Stabler passed the time by building a website for fredricalexander.com. Office space came next, designed by Stabler himself.
His interest in interior design dates back to a childhood spent moving frequently, all around Southeast Asia, before his family settled in Orange County, California. “I found growing up overseas, my childhood was a little bit chaotic,” Stabler explains. “I always found peace, or I found it very grounding, to pull spaces together, to clean them and to arrange them. I saw how a space affected people.”
People who are unhappy with the way a room looks or is set up will often continue to live in it for years, he says. “Why not love the space you live in? Once, you do it will change your whole outlook. The pandemic has shined a light on how important this is to our quality of life.”
Stabler says Fredric Alexander aims to make design accessible, whether taking someone’s space from concept to completion or through its refresh and refine service, for which the company works with what the client already has to create a fresh environment.
Additionally, Fredric Alexander can consult, source and provide a unique shopping experience. Their items are sourced from casinos, garage sales, antique stores and beyond, so buyers shouldn’t expect to see the same things twice.
Transitioning from performer to interior designer has come with challenges, Stabler concedes. As the days passed, he realized he missed the applause. But he’s also found comfort in his new career.
“I became a performer because I wanted to affect people. They came to the show, and they got to escape,” he says. “Design [also] affects people, but on a greater scale, I think, on a more long-lasting scale.”
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