In 1978, fresh off the dissolution of a relationship – Pippa in Retrospective likes the old English word, Eaubruche for the breaking of a marriage – a good friend of mine, Reverend Tom Davis, suggested that a return to acting would restore my spirits. Tom suggested a meeting with Alan Brody, then the Chair of the Skidmore College Theatre Department. The college’s works functioned as a sort of regional theatre offering and although at 26 and heading the Saratoga County Office of Addiction & Substance Intervention Services not a student Alan invited me to audition for the Fall plays.
That Skidmore having only recently shifted from being an all-women’s college had a dearth of male students certainly helped my chances, and Alan gave me the role of Reverend Anthony Anderson in George Bernard Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple. I got to say lines like “Essie, Essie, saddle my horse!” and my favorite “I’m Anthony Anderson, the man you want” while leaping onto the gallows to save my co-star Jeremiah Alexander. Not too shabby for my first role since Pozzo in Waiting for Godot in a touring production in 1972.
But because of that production, Alan Brody encouraged me to dive back into theatre again allowing me to audit his classes and just generally soaking me in that world through conversation and example. That led me to New York in 1980 and years of studying with Terry Schreiber, acting, playwrighting, directing, and producing. Yes, then there was quite a break to raise with Marjorie the three exquisite children, but the lineage for this London Test of taking our play from its New York run to eight performances May 14-23 at Barons Court Theatre goes back to Alan Brody.
Alan is now Emeritus at MIT after being Professor of Theater, Head of the Department, Associate Provost for the Arts, and probably a few other jobs. When he heard RETROSPERCTIVE was headed for its UK premiere, he wrote me the line in my title above: “You’re going to love London audiences.” Just as he has with myriad others, Alan opened up the possibilities for me when he brought me back into theater forty-eight years ago. It’s what he does.
He expressed this intention very well when he stepped down as Associate Provost at MIT in 2006 in describing why the arts were important at the most prestigious scientific university in the world:
“…our students discover new ways of being in the world. They develop a tolerance for ambiguity and learn to honor their dreams. They come to exercise those parts of their bodies and minds they may never have experienced before. They understand the profound difference between solving a problem and illuminating a mystery.”
The test for me and others who benefitted from Alan’s efforts is to pay it forward; help others to ‘honor their dreams’. That’s a critical part of this London Test: get our younger colleagues (and at 74 everyone on the team is really younger) a chance to show their talents. The reviews help: Jasmine Dorothy Haefner, Benjamin Parsons, and Sarah Pearcy all have rave notices that should not only buttress their confidence (who doesn’t need a little buttress there?) and get them some attention. (Noah Huntley is MUCH younger than he plays as our beleaguered painter, Rory McGrory, but he’s been getting swell reviews for a long time.)
Why mention that one of our aims as Knowledge Workings Theater company is to promote our splendid colleagues? After all, didn’t Charles Dickens say, “Do all the good you can, and make as little fuss about it as possible“? He did, but the fuss we’re making serves to persuade anyone in London to see these coo kids by attending one of the last three performances, tonight, Friday, May 22nd, and Saturday, May 23rd all at 7:30 PM at Barons Court Theatre just below Curtains Up pub near West Kensington Tube Station. As Alan noted, London audiences are fabulous; we do love them. And we’d like to spread the love around wildly these last three nights. It’s all part of our London Test.