Summer Stock at Bemidji, Minnesota
The summer after graduation with a BA from Berkeley, I did my one and only summer stock gig. Performing one play while learning the next. 7 plays! My brain! Clockwise starting in upper left: Misalliance by Bernard Shaw, I am playing Hypatia; Let’s Get a Divorce by Victorien Sardou; The Loud Red Patrick by John Boruff, I think I am playing a 7 year old here; and Gigi by Anita Loos, I am playing either the mother or the aunt. I don’t have programs so I can only credit Rob Lancaster, the tall actor in 3 of the shots and Karen Ingenthron who played Gigi and who sits demurely on the left in two shots. The other plays were Death of a Salesman(!!!), A Thousand Clowns, and Sherlock Holmes. It seems impossible. I have no memory of a Sherlock Holmes play, at all.
The Actor’s Workshop-San Francisco-1964
Berkeley Again–May, 1965
Antigone by Sophocles
Stanford
That Scoundrel Scapin by Moliere
The Skin of Our Teeth by Thorton Wilder
After Antigone I was accepted into an amazing 2 year program at Stanford University. The University was experimenting with having a professional company on campus. The lead actors would also teach classes and the students working on Masters Degrees would be cast in the shows. I, however, along with Carol A., was in an ‘Acting Fellow’ program. We also took some classes and were cast in the shows but we were not enrolled in the University. It was here at Stanford that I earned my Actors’ Equity card. We ‘Fellows’ also got a very small salary. But things were cheaper then.
I played Zerbinette in this show.
All’s Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare
Paul E. Richards as Parolles, me as Helena, John Hellweg as Bertram, Jerome Raphel as King of France. Helen, or Helena, was not an easy roll for me and I wasn’t wholly successful. But I got to wear pretty clothes.
That first season at Stanford also included Prometheus Bound and The Goodwoman of Setzuan. I was part of the chorus in Prometheus Bound and we were costumed rather like artichokes, head to toe. There were ants in my mask one evening. I was probably a townsfolk in Goodwoman.
Stanford–2nd season
Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare
The set was meant to suggest the interior of a heart. I don’t know who that is on the left but that’s me as Iras and Ruth Hunt as Charmian and Loretta Leversee as Cleopatra.
The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay
The Cherry Orchard
I love this photo. All in our own worlds, looking at the future in our different ways.
I include several photos from The Cherry Orchard to show the wonderful costumes and sets we had to work with there. Look at the detail on my white dress! The top photo shows Gerald Hiken as Leonid, Astrid Wellsrud as Varya, Carillo Gantner as A Tramp, Glenn Cannon as Feers (in background), me as Anya, Jane Hoffman as Lyubov, Paul E. Richards as Lopahin (standing), and Paul Winfield as Trofimov.
We also did Once in a Lifetime by Kaufman and Hart but I don’t have a photo from that show. There were also smaller productions in the little theater and one in a museum. An amazing two years.
Back to Berkeley–1967
The summer of ’67, UC Berkeley Drama Department had a special summer program which brought back some former students to join with others in a 3 play season. This was similar to the Stanford program in that professionals and students were combined in the casts.
The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar
Robert Hirschfeld as Justice Balance and me as Rose.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Me as Juliet, Rose Wood as Nurse, and David Coxwell as Romeo.
The Visit by Friedrich Duerrenmatt was also done but I have no photos from that show.
Hedda Gabler
At some point, still in Berkeley, I was in a production of Hedda Gabler. We did two versions of the play with the actors switching parts. One night I would be Hedda and Dana Larsson, in picture below, would be Mrs. Elvsted and the next night I would be Mrs. Elvsted and she would play Hedda. Except for one, the other actors switched roles, too. I enjoyed this challenge.
San Francisco
I auditioned for this show being done in San Francisco and was cast. At this point in my life, I was open to almost anything. Through this play I met Alan Myerson, the director of The Committee, and The Committee is where I ended up next.
The Committee–San Francisco
After “America Hurrah!” closed I auditions for The Committee’s improvisation troupe. The Committee had a cabaret type theater in San Francisco. That was their main business, the play was an off-shoot. I was new to improvisation but I was accepted into the workshops and then I joined the performing company. I had a lot to learn. We performed Tuesday through Sunday with multiple shows on Friday and Saturday. The ‘first act’ was a combination of set scenes derived from improvisations and games, the ‘second act’ was based on suggestions from the audience. It was an intense time but I was in my 20’s. Still every once in awhile I needed to take a break and possibly during one of those breaks is when I did Hedda Gabler. Below is an ad for The Committee’s appearance on the Flip Wilson show. The cast of the show in San Francisco would change fairly often and the group pictured below is just an example. Please note that the names of David Moody and Larry Hankin have been switched by accident. In the bottom row the guy on the left is David Moody, the guy on the right is Larry Hankin.
Adding Dan Barrows in to the picture. This shot was not taken at the theater as we always used those wooden chairs seen above. This might have been on tour or at a charity event. For all the years I was part of The Committee I have almost no photos beyond some promo shots.
This is me and Howard Hesseman who was a member of The Committee for many years. We had been filming a segment for a children’s TV show, I believe, and here we are watching the playback. Not really a The Committee photo but I love it so have included it.
Back to Berkeley–1972-1974
After my years with The Committee, I did three plays at The Berkeley Repertory Theater–School for Scandal, The Sea Gull, and The Misanthrope.
First photos are School for Scandal with me as Lady Teazle, Doug Johnson as Sir Benjamin Backbite, and Holly Baron as Lady Sneerwell. Next is The Sea Gull with Richard Marion as Konstantin Treplev and me as Nina. Then two photos from The Misanthrope with me as Célimène and Linda Lee Johnson as Arsinoe and Richard Marion as Alceste, the misanthrope.
Los Angeles–from then until now
Kid Gloves
Richard and I (that same Richard pictured above) moved to Los Angeles. While trying to get work in film and TV some folks, many from the Bay Area, Julie Payne and I continued to work on a 2 woman show we had been developing for several years which we ended up calling ‘Kid Gloves’. Finally, finally, we got a full production mounted at The Matrix Theater in early 1979. Although we have video of poor quality of the show we don’t seem to have any production pictures. Crazy! So I have to include this photo and partial review. Not all the reviews were this good but this one is certainly the most accurate.
The photo is from a sketch we called ‘Cosmo’. I don’t think I was aware until later that doing a two woman show at that time was unusual. Julie and I enjoyed working together, we wanted to do a show, so we did it. Not that creating it and getting it produced was easy. It was not.
The Hollywood Primary
Peter E. had the bizarre idea of gathering a bunch of people and putting on a topical show at midnight once every 4 to 6 weeks. A whole bunch of people said ‘Great!” This was The Hollywood Primary. We performed at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Different show each time. I have no photos, just a couple of programs. Theater is ephemeral.
The cast for this particular show:
Hamilton Camp Ruth Silveira Dan Barrows John Brent Rene Santoni Anna M. Julie Payne Paul Willson Leigh French Robert Roll John Freeman Garry Goodrow with Peter E. as M.C.
Intermission
Next, I took a long break from theater. Richard and I had a small daughter by this time and 9 years later had another. I focused on the daughters and getting TV and film work.