Photos by Wes & Christi Bushby
Suzanne Nyhan - (Shirley Valentine)
Flash Back
I was introduced to the Towle Theater in 2011 when I auditioned for their production of Good Boys and True. It was scheduled as a split run, 3 weeks at the Towle and 3 weeks at Theater Wit in Chicago. At the first audition in Chicago, I was impressed by how kindly and professionally the actors were treated by Jeff and Kevin. It was the start of great friendships.
Over the next few years, I continued to perform at other theaters in the Chicago area but maintained a close relationship with the Towle and Jeff and Kevin. At some point during this time they approached me about playing Shirley in Shirley Valentine, a 2-act one-woman show. I was deeply complimented but also taken aback. The idea of a one-woman show was daunting. Actors work in ensembles. Our training largely focuses on how to actively listen to our cast mates and how to respond genuinely as our characters. When one of us hits a snag, like blanking on a line, the others step in to give the actor a moment to refocus and regain their concentration. To perform a full play without another actor on stage was a very foreign idea and the approach to preparing and performing the piece would have to be quite different.
However, I read the script and loved it. It was funny and poignant. Shirley is a middle-aged woman finding her way through a so-so marriage and the transition to having adult children out on their own. It was too good to pass up and the challenge too interesting to refuse.
Shirley was slotted as the first show of the 2015 season, opening the end of February. We planned to start rehearsals in December, but my father had taken ill in the summer of 2014 and passed away in November. Jeff’s mom was also having health issues. So, we waited until January to start and even then, we had a few rehearsals that we gave up on and spent the night talking.
Throughout the play, Shirley weaves a witty, meandering tale of her life; her marriage, children and their nativity plays, teen years and young adulthood. Her routines, nosy neighbors and friends, one of whom ultimately convinces Shirley to go on a trip to Greece with her. In Greece, Shirley rediscovers herself, taking in the beauty of the beaches and the affectionate attention of a Greek café owner.
The first act is set in Shirley’s kitchen in Liverpool. She’s preparing dinner (“tea”) for her husband and I actually cooked a meal on stage. Kevin spent many a sleepless night figuring out how to have a functioning stove on stage and Jeff and I spent many rehearsals working on the intricate blocking (stage movement) required for the scene. The effect of cooking with the sounds and aromas was wonderful.
The second act is set on a beach in Greece. Jeff and I thought we were “home free” with the second act because the blocking would be so much easier. However, I learned an important lesson about doing a one-woman show when I blanked on a line at the top of the second act opening night. When other actors are on stage with you, they can step in for a moment to allow you to get back on track. Or having more things to do on stage, like cooking, gives the actor a chance to fill a moment with action and to take a breath to regain their concentration. I had neither and I had to keep going. I also skipped to almost the end of the second act within a few minutes of starting the act! I quickly regained my concentration, but then had to “re-write” the second act on my feet. Meanwhile, poor Jeff is in the booth about to have a heart attack, frantically texting Kevin that we were in big trouble. But it all worked out, and I even tried sending Jeff calming energy as I rewrote the play knowing he was helplessly witnessing a potential disaster.
Performing a one-woman show is an incredible challenge. The biggest surprise for me, besides having to rewrite the second act on my feet, was how much fun it is to talk directly to the audience. The audience becomes your ensemble, you take them on the journey with you in a far more intimate and immediate way than when you perform with the “fourth wall”. I am forever grateful to have had this experience in the warmth and safety Jeff and Kevin create at the Towle Theater and under Jeff’s sure direction.
Fast Forward
The next season, 2016, I performed in Secrets of a Soccer Mom at the Towle, a 3-woman, very funny play. But I was increasingly interested in directing and Jeff offered to mentor me. I assistant directed Pageant Play and Cockeyed in the 2018 season and Mama’s Boy in 2019. A situation arose toward the end of rehearsals for Mama’s Boy that required me to step into the role of Mama a week before opening, yet another acting challenge offered to me at the Towle! I then directed The Smell of the Kill with Jeff as my wing man. This season, 2020, things came full circle when I directed the one-woman play, Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End.
Whenever a one-person play is considered, the actor must be determined and committed to the play prior to the season being announced. The skill level and professionalism required to successfully mount this type of play requires it. There was no doubt that Laura MacGregor was the perfect fit to play Erma. Erma was a warm and witty columnist who wrote about the life of a middle-class, American wife and mother in the 1970’s-1980’s. She became the most syndicated columnist of her time and became a figure in the campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment. Laura is a gifted, professional actor and a warm woman with a wonderful sense of humor. She fit perfectly.
Laura and I had played sisters in my first play at the Towle (Good Boys and True) and now I had the opportunity to solo direct her in a one-woman play. Appropriately, given Erma’s involvement with the ERA, Vanessa Merola from TYTE was my assistant, creating a triad of women telling the story of an exceptional woman. The circle of life at the Towle.
Photos by Wes & Christi Bushby
Linda Wilczynski - (Vivien Leigh)
Flash Back
Vivien Leigh once said, “I think acting is an important profession, because acting can give you pleasure and can teach you at the same time, and that is a good thing.” Vivien’s own words sum up everything I experienced while preparing for and performing in Vivien Leigh: The Last Press Conference at the Towle in 2017.
“The Viv Show”, as I like to call it, was my fourth show at the Towle after having previously performed in Parade in 2005, tick, tick, BOOM! in 2006, and Ordinary Days in 2012. Every theatrical experience is unique but, I’d have to say that, the Viv show was unique on an entirely different level. When I first read the script, I’m not gonna lie, it scared the living you know what out of me! Despite that, I immediately knew that I was going to do it. In some ways, I had to do it because it scared the you know what out of me. I knew it was going to be a challenge like no other, but I also knew it was going to be an experience like no other. And boy was I right! I knew about a year in advance that I was going to do the show but purposely didn’t start memorizing until a few months before. Obviously, I wanted to know the material like the back of my hand, but I also wanted it to be fresh and feel more spontaneous than routine overly rehearsed. As I learned about Vivien Leigh, I also learned about myself. Knowing you’re going to be on stage alone for 90 minutes with no scene changes, no black outs, no intermission, and no one there to bail you out if you get yourself in trouble makes you learn about your subject and yourself pretty quickly. It was challenging but is was also very therapeutic for me personally. Vivien was bi-polar. Someone I loved very much was bi-polar. Seeing life through another set of eyes, her eyes, helped me work through some old heartache and gave me a clarity, understanding, and a level of forgiveness that I previously didn’t know that I desperately needed. The show also forced me to trust myself like I never had before and that wouldn’t have been possible without Jeff Casey. When I couldn’t trust myself, I knew I could trust him. Working one on one with someone can be daunting, uncomfortable, and filled with anxiety but my trust in Jeff and the process somehow brought a strange calm over me. That’s not to say that I stopped being scared or that my heart wasn’t racing a million beats a minute just before stepping on stage on opening night but that trust and respect brought me a level of comfort and peace that I needed to be able to walk a mile in Vivien’s shoes every night. It sounds overly dramatic, but it was truly a life changing experience.
I’ve been doing theater for 38 years and this experience was unlike anything I’ve experienced before, and I will likely never experience anything like it again. And that’s a good thing. Some experiences should stand alone. Oh….and to the woman who left her cell phone on and couldn’t figure out how to turn it off as it continued to ring and ring while I was performing a 90-minute monologue…. yeah, you, I haven’t forgiven! LOL!
Fast Forward
Closing night of Vivien Leigh: The Last Press Conference was the last time I stepped on a stage. I’ve jokingly, but not so jokingly said that I never needed to do another show after doing the Viv show. What could top it? Would I ever feel that way again? Why risk it? But Vivien and her passion for creating art would be very mad at me for thinking that way. Ironically, I just started wrapping my brain around the possibility of performing again when Covid-19 hit and the landscape of life and theater as we know it instantaneously changed. I suppose performing alone for an hour and a half was pretty good preparation for quarantining during a pandemic! About a week ago I decided to see how much of the script I could actually remember three years later. Thirty seconds later I went on to another activity! I’m joking. I surprisingly remembered much more than I would have expected so maybe I’ll revisit the script just in case Jeff needs a good socially distancing show to put up! To quote Vivien again, “Comedy is much more difficult than tragedy – and much better training, I think. It’s much easier to make people cry than to make them laugh.” In these difficult times, I hold on to both the laughter and the tears and look forward to the time when stepping back on stage again is a reality. There are more characters to explore, more emotions to express, and stories to tell. “After all, tomorrow is another day”
Photos by Wes & Christi Bushby
Laura MacGregor - (Erma Bombeck)
Flash Back
I first worked with the Towle several years ago, in a powerful drama, Good Boys and True. Jeff co-directed with Scot Kokandy, Kevin designed everything, and Suzanne starred as my sister. So this already felt like family here. Last spring, I was blown away when Jeff and Kevin asked if I’d be Interested in playing Erma Bombeck in a one-woman show, At Wit's End.
The challenge of being engaging enough to keep an audience amused for an entire play all by myself was both flattering and terrifying. Eek! So, here are a few things that are different about a solo performance—you’re performing without a net. Nobody’s there to feed you a line if you mess up. There’s the delight of breaking the 4th wall and talking with the audience, and the freedom of a non-realistic performance. I don’t have to pretend I’m not hearing laughter while waiting to say the next line—I can give a little “you know what I'm talkin' about” nod. Being mainly a naturalistic actor, I have to say that direct give and take was positively addictive. Timing was a challenge; sometimes I was sure everyone must be so bored of just listening to me, talk, talk, talk. I was tempted to apologetically rush through, instead of taking the time for mood changes. And speaking of being apologetic, I’m never the first person off-book, but I’m certainly never the last! You will be shocked to hear that in our entire cast, I was absolutely the worst one at memorizing.
I had excellent help navigating these challenges, with a director who has performed a one-woman play herself. For most of our rehearsal process, it was just us 3 women—Director Suzanne Nyhan, Asst. Director Vanessa Merola and me. So, of course we talked and thought about feminism, and being a woman, because that was so central to the story our female playwrights told about Erma. Suzanne and I are mothers to daughters the same age (during our show, her daughter was just starting graduate work in film-directing and my daughter was directing her first main stage play—how’s that for sisterhood?!) and Vanessa is a passionate, talented young woman just launching into adulthood. Another piece of kismet: during our production, Illinois ratified the Equal Rights Amendment that Erma fought so hard for.
It was a journey of discovery into this amazing character. We studied up on the women's movement, read Erma's books, and I watched as many of her interviews and performances as I could find. I was charmed by her wry wit, and the secret wink in her attitude, and amazed by her sheer creative productivity. And I was very impressed that despite her huge fame and influence, she was a loving mother who raised great, normal kids. I also watched interviews with her kids and her incredibly proud husband, Bill. She balanced dedication to her home and family with answering a calling--because she really had to write. I felt a personal connection to that dilemma. While acting was central to my young life, I stopped doing theater when I had kids. Fortunately, like Erma, I have an awesome, supportive husband. My "Bill", Adam, told me at 38 that I needed to stop being sad about the road not taken, assured me that he was perfectly capable of feeding children and helping with homework, and nagged me to get out and audition. 12 years later, having directed, produced, and played more characters than I can count, I can't imagine my life without theater.
Fast Forward
While my flashback memories of playing Erma Bombeck are just a few months ago, it feels like it was way in the past. On that final Sunday matinee, March 8, I played to an enthusiastic full house, then celebrated with family and production staff at an Italian restaurant. We cavalierly sat close together, hugged, and traded tastes of favorite dishes. We didn't know that we were on the edge of a cliff, and ordinary life--and certainly ordinary theater--was about to come to a screeching halt. So, there's not much "after" for me. My workplace shut down (I work with young children and families in the University of Chicago's Family Resource Center); the community theater that takes much of my energy and love shut down (Hyde Park Community Players); I was cast remotely in a play with the wonderful Odds Bodkins Theater Co., but as a hoped for summer reprieve from the virus failed to appear, that, too was cancelled. So here I am at home, sheltering in place with my husband and adult children, doing the homemaker bit of Erma's life. My creativity is focused on cooking, gardening, and finally getting to my b-list of household projects. And lest you think I'm one of those self-motivated productive types, I also spend plenty of time worrying, binge-watching shows and obsessively playing online word games. Erma would do better, and she'd definitely be able to say something positive to cheer us up in this fallow time . . . how about "When humor goes, there goes civilization" or "If you can't make it better, you can laugh at it."