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What’s going on behind the scenes?: Interview with Bernard Havard on working with his creative team at the Walnut Street Theatre

2/20/2020

By Henrik Eger

People arriving at the Walnut Street Theatre. Photo courtesy of the Walnut Street Theatre.

In general, theater reviews tend to present photographs that favor actors; yet, a great deal of creativity comes through the work of designers, technicians, and many others—all part of a creative team.

In the final part of this three-part series of interviews with Bernard Havard, president & producing artistic director of the Walnut Street Theatre, America’s oldest continuously-operating theater, Bernard shares his experiences with his creative team for A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde: Scenic designer Dr. Roman Tatarowicz, lighting designer Shon Causer, sound designer Christopher Colucci, and costume designer Mary Folino.

Scene from A Women of No Importance, designed by Dr. Roman Tatarowicz, lighting design by Shon Causer.

Entering an aristocratic Alice in Wonderland world, peopled by fantastic Victorian characters:
Scenic designer Dr. Roman Tatarowicz

Henrik: Before the play started, we saw a rich, upper-class environment through a gauze curtain, as if we were about to enter an aristocratic Alice in Wonderland world, peopled by fantastic Victorian characters—all set in an awe-inspiring design by Dr. Roman Tatarowicz, “chair of the obstetrics department at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne” and one of the most sought-after stage designers for miles. He was quoted as saying that he found his stage work “humbling because some of the people I work with are crazy talented.”

What was it like working with this “crazy talented” scenic designer?

Bernard: We found him through our production manager, Siobhán Ruane, who was aware of his work. Having Siobhán on our staff has been a tremendous asset for us. She introduced me to Roman, and I saw his portfolio. I thought the work was amazing, and we immediately got him under contract for a show in the studio, and it just grew from there.

Dr. Roman Tatarowicz, scenic designer and chair of the obstetrics department at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, PA.
Photo by Thom Carroll.

He’s worked on two shows that I directed, The Humans and then this show. He’s a wonderful collaborator. He not only studies the script thoroughly to inform himself as to the design, but he will also talk to me in great detail about my vision for the piece, leading to great collaborations.

The only thing that I had to talk to Roman about was the final act set for A Woman of No Importance. He was doing it in the same design as the grand mansion, and I said, “No, it’s a different world altogether. She lives in a cottage. It has to portray purity. There has to be a great change. All the flowers have to be white, absolutely white.” And I said, “I want a crucifix on the wall, because she has devoted so much time to religion and her church.” So with that collaboration, he came up with that wonderful set for us.

Henrik: When you shared your interpretation of the last act with Roman, how did he respond?

Alicia Roper and Ian Merrill Peakes. Act 4. Stage design by Roman Tatarowicz and lighting design by Shon Causer. Photo by Mark Garvin.

Bernard: Oh, he immediately drafted a new set. Immediately. And I said, “You got it; you understand.”

Beyond collaboration with me, Roman is also a great collaborator with the costume and the lighting designers. He doesn’t need to collaborate with the sound designer, although I’m pretty sure he would’ve told me if he thought it was wrong.
Roman’s hands-on. He goes down to the shop to make sure the scenery’s being built properly. He’s there the whole time the set’s being put in the theater. How he finds the time to leave the hospital and be at the theater for as long as he does, I’m not sure. Maybe he’s got great assistance at St. Mary’s.

Henrik: I have never heard of a physician who also creates some of the finest stage designs.

Bernard: Same here. I believe Dr. Tatarowicz is the only set designer I’ve ever worked with who delivers babies. He brings such a vision and precision to his work that I can only think that these skills make him an excellent obstetrician.
You know how Leonardo da Vinci was able to encompass the scientific and the artistic worlds—that’s what Roman does.

Working with a sensitive and aware human being and artist:
Lighting designer Shon Causer

Shon Causer, lighting designer.

Henrik: Could you describe your overall approach working with the creative team, starting with lighting designer Shon Causer, and how all their arts and skills contributed to this production of a difficult play with some of Wilde’s most famous quotes?

Bernard: Shon and I have collaborated on a number of plays that I directed at the Fulton Opera House and then moved to the Walnut, and he also worked on The Humans with me. He’s a sensitive and aware human being and artist. He understands light and the importance of it.

Henrik: For instance?

Bernard: Hester is overhearing these women prattling on about men and about society, and she’s off in a corner by the bookcase, and she’s sort of in a very dim light, so nobody really pays any attention to her. She’s just there. We know she’s there, and at the moment that attention is drawn to her, we slowly bring the light up on her, not so fast that the audience realizes what’s going on, but to focus the attention on her now.

Shon understands that, so we don’t have to have a long discussion about it.

For example, he knows that the first scene is outdoors. To try to help the audience understand, we use gobos—pieces of metal or glass with a design carved into them, in this case, leaves. Once a gobo is inserted, it projects whatever is carved into it. As a result, we get a dappled lighting effect coming through the trees.

Shon and I discussed whether they had electric light at that mansion, and we decided they did not. They were rural people, and they were probably still working off gas light in that building. Whatever adjustment he made to the color or the temperature of the lighting, it conveys gas light.

Henrik: You and everyone involved in this production must have spent an extraordinary amount of time and energy, let alone money, to make every moment work for your audience.

Bernard: True. We had the footlights at the front of the stage to convey gas light, and to heighten the fact that it’s theatrical. We’re not trying to fool anybody. A Woman of No Importance is a theater piece, and we hope audiences enter into it as a theater piece. We’re not trying to create reality as such; rather, we’re trying to convey the truth and the honesty of the situation.

“We’ve been on the same wavelength for a long time”:
Sound designer Christopher Colucci

Christopher Colucci, sound designer. Photo by Ryan Collerd.

Henrik: You also worked with your sound designer Christopher Colucci on creating specific moods.

Bernard: Yes, Colucci and I, we’ve been on the same wavelength for a long time. We think, “What is the mood that we’re trying to set?” I wanted a pastoral mood, because they’re in the country. We also had to deal with that big melodramatic moment when Hester comes screaming out after having been kissed by Lord Illingworth.

And at that point, it’s so melodramatic that I thought, if we cover this with a sound effect in the music, it will help the audience. If there’s nervous laughter in the audience, it’ll be covered to a certain extent. And it was successful, I think, in doing that.

Henrik: What music did you play during those tension-filled moments?

Bernard: The two composers that I was focusing on were Vaughn Williams and Gustav Holst. As soon as Hester comes on and says, “Lord Illingworth tried to kiss me,” and then the seducer appears onstage, and young Arbuthnot goes charging across the stage to punch him, Mrs. Arbuthnot makes a shattering revelation.

At that point, the music chords strike. Badoom. It helps deflect, I think, nervous laughter from the audience, who may find this scene either tragic or overly melodramatic.

American composer Stephen Foster (1826 - 1864).
Photo courtesy of Newslocker.com.

And also, the piece that’s played by Hester on the violin is American music from that period. I think it’s Stephen Foster. I said to Colucci, “Find me a piece of music that would’ve been played in America that she would have learned to play. And I’d like it to be specifically American, and not a piece of Beethoven or Bach or something.” So that’s what he did.

“Costumes give the audience information about the characters before they even speak”:
Costume designer Mary Folino

Costume Designer Mary Folino conducting a wardrobe fitting on actress Megan Arnoldy. Courtesy of the Walnut Street Theatre.

Henrik: One of those “crazy talented” people at the Walnut, Mary Folino, your costume designer, once said, “Costumes give the audience information about the characters before they even speak. And they help define their personalities, just as anyone’s clothes do.”

In this production, the men are dressed in dark outfits that represent their social and professional status. The women are wearing exquisitely elegant Victorian outfits with various colors and shades, with two exceptions: the American visitor dressed in white, and Mrs. Arbuthnot dressed in all black, almost like an angel risen from the dead (played by Alicia Roper, demonstrating a wide range of feelings).

Could you describe Folino’s work at the Walnut and her costume design for this production in particular?

Bernard: The first costume you see the young American in is pale off-white, slightly yellow, and the last dress she wears in Oscar Wilde’s Act 4 is white, white muslin. It’s also informed by Parisian fashions at the time, because of Wilde’s reference to “American women always get their clothes in Paris.” So when Mary researched the period and the costumes, she also researched what costumes, what dresses were being designed in the early 1890s in Paris.

The black dress, worn by Mrs. Arbuthnot, was only for Act 2 and 3, and it’s called for. Oscar actually refers to the “woman in black,” and so Lord Illingworth immediately says, “Yes, what a charming woman in black.”

The costume is also spelled out for Hester, the young American girl. It has to be a woman in white muslin. Oscar Wilde has put it in the script, in the dialogue. You would be absolutely foolish, and wrong, if you didn’t follow Oscar’s direction.

Turning the wit of a great writer into a living work of art on stage:
Director Bernard Havard on Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde lounging, original photo from the 1890s.

Henrik: Bernard, you lived with this work for quite some time. Which quotes from this play seem to represent the wit and the biting satire of A Woman of No Importance for you?

Bernard: “The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.”

“To win back my youth, Gerald, there is nothing I wouldn’t do—except take exercise, get up early, or be a useful member of the community.”

“The English country gentleman galloping after a fox—the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.”
There’s just wit everywhere. There are so many quotes in this play, each one more famous than the next. I love them all.

Henrik: Tell us something that very few people know about you.

Bernard: The one thing I will tell you that I did in the past that informs my life is work as a short order cook and a sous chef in London, even though I didn’t get that far. I was cooking to support myself as a young actor, rather than driving a taxi or working as a waiter.

Preparing meals for people and seeing the satisfaction they get from a well-prepared meal is the same satisfaction I get from preparing a well-prepared play.

Henrik: I appreciate the way you greet people on opening night. As a theater reviewer, I feel always honored, as if you were saying, “You’re all doing a lot of hard work, too.”

Bernard: It’s a brotherhood. The people who support the theater are not a large group, probably less than, I don’t know, 3% of our country who enjoy what we’re doing. We have to embrace our audiences. They’re precious people. Without them, the theater doesn’t exist.

Audience, including critics, with diverging opinions by Honoré Daumier, 1808 – 1879.

[Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut Street] January 14-March 1, 2020; walnutstreettheatre.org

This interview was originally published by Phindie on February 20, 2020.

For the other two parts of this three-part interview, click these links:

Part 1, Risks can lead to financial loss: Interview with Bernard Havard on A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE at the Walnut Street Theatre, and
Part 2, As if Oscar Wilde himself had arrived on the Walnut stage: Interview with Bernard Havard on casting and working with his actors.

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As if Oscar Wilde himself had arrived on the Walnut stage: Interview with Bernard Havard on casting and working with his actors

2/18/2020

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By Henrik Eger

A Woman of No Importance full cast and creative team at the Walnut Street Theatre.

In this interview with Bernard Havard, Walnut Street Theatre’s President & Producing Artistic Director as well as director of Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance, he describes his work casting and directing the actors and many other aspects of creating an artistically successful production.

For more details check out our first interview in a series of three: “Risks can lead to financial loss: Interview with Bernard Havard on A Woman of No Importance at the Walnut Street Theatre,” and the third interview, “What’s going on behind the scenes?: Interview with Bernard Havard on working with his creative team at the Walnut Street Theatre”

St. Georges Catholic Boy's School, now College, Weybridge, Surrey, UK.

Henrik Eger: Most people seem to know you only as one of the most successful theater directors for miles. Could you give a few examples of how your childhood and adolescent experiences led you to the theater world?

Bernard Havard: Born in Chiswick, England, I was a child actor at St. George’s, a Catholic boys’ boarding school in Weybridge, Surrey [founded in 1869]. As I had a very high soprano, I got to play all the female roles.

In adolescence, I was involved in a television program in Calgary, Alberta, as an actor. It was called More or Less, and it was also sold to ABC in Australia. I played a juvenile delinquent in a black leather jacket and a ducktail hairstyle.

Henrik: Audiences often wonder whether you are English or Canadian.

Bernard: I’m a proud American. I was born in England and immigrated to Calgary, Alberta, Canada with my family when I was eleven years old. In 1977, I was head-hunted into the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, GA.

Henrik: Did those experiences encourage you later in life to create programming for young people in Philadelphia?

Bernard: No, that came much later. I got involved in touring for young children in Toronto with Young People’s Theatre. Later on, I was recruited by the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta, putting together tours for young audiences in Northern Alberta. We would fly our company into Northern Alberta, because those communities were so remote that this was the best way to reach them. This program was subsidized by the Alberta government.

Maclab, Citadel Theatre, Edmonton, Canada.

Henrik: You seem to have quite a theater background via your family.

Bernard: During my childhood, I found out that my family has been in the theater for over 200 years. They were an Irish acting family who had moved from Dublin to England in the 1820s. One of my great-great aunts was the first woman to play Candida for George Bernard Shaw and the first woman to smoke a cigarette onstage at Wyndham’s Theatre in London.

There were two aunts. One was called Kate Rorke and the other Mary Rorke. The family had Anglicized their names when they moved from Ireland to get along better with the British. They both ended up teaching a whole generation of actors at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, two famous theater schools in London.

Henrik: Even the most experienced actors consider it a great honor to be cast by you. Could you tell us more about that process?

Bernard: If there’s one strength that I have, Henrik, it’s in my casting. I’ve been casting actors now for over 55 years, and I think I have a very good understanding for what talent and truth is about—in terms of conveying that from one human to another, meaning the artist at one end and the audience at the other.

I don’t have a problem with it. It’s something that’s come to me over the years, and I feel natural and confident about that aspect of my work.

Henrik: Has it ever happened that an actor whom you had screened and hired did not pull through and you had to let go of that person?

Bernard: It has happened to me as a producer, but not as a director. All of those actors that you saw onstage in A Woman of No Importance, none of them auditioned for me, except Audrey [Ward as Miss Hester Worsley]. I’ve worked in this city for 37 years. I know many of the best actors in the city. I knew exactly who I wanted, and I offered them the roles.
However, as a producer, there was a very unfortunate incident years ago. A wonderful older actress had been hired, and it turned out that her memory was totally shot. She was not able to retain the lines, and I, unfortunately, had to part company with her, and it was one of the most emotionally painful experiences of my life.

But now, we actually have the technology to put a hearing aid into an actor’s ear and have the stage manager prompt them through the hearing aid, so, from a memory standpoint, with that technology we’re able to preserve an actor’s longevity.

Henrik: You brought together great actors who have won many Barrymores and other awards or nominations, including Mary Martello (as Lady Caroline Pontefract), Paul L. Nolan (as Mr. Kelvil), Karen Peakes (as Mrs. Allonby), Jane Ridley (as Lady Hunstanton), Jessica Bedford (as Lady Stutfield), Peter Schmitz (as Archdeacon Daubeny), and Bill van Horn (as Sir John Pontefract). What were you looking for in this cast?

"They’re all world class actors. I believe they could take the stage anywhere, in New York, London, and would be among the best."
A Woman of No Importance, cast. Photo by Mark Garvin.

Bernard: The whole cast was a joy to work with. I hired people who, I think, have tremendous instincts and great talent. I was looking for a specific physical type, but also an actor who could handle the language well and was appropriately-aged.

Oscar has given us those characters, Dr. Daubeny, for instance. If you read Oscar’s letters—there are 641 of them, I believe—he uses Daubeny as a running joke in all of his letters. When anybody complains about all their ailments in old age, he calls them “Daubenys.”

Peter Schmitz, to me, is the perfect model for Daubeny. He fits those roles that Wilde has written. He understands these people, and he nails them.

Similarly, there’s Mr. Kelvil, the pompous Member of Parliament. When you think of an actor locally who can do pompous really well, Paul Nolan is exceptional at it. He’s played more military men and men of authority than I remember anybody else doing around here.

Don’t forget, there’s another wonderful actor that we’re overlooking because he doesn’t have many lines in this play, but what he has, he makes the most of, and that’s Bill Van Horn. He played Sir John Pontefract, Lady Caroline Pontefract’s hen-pecked husband.

Bill Van Horn as Sir John Pontefract, Karen Peakes as Mrs. Allonby, and Ian Merrill Peakes as Lord Illingworth. Photo by Mark Garvin.

Henrik: Women of the ruling class during Wilde’s time dominate this play. Tell us about those women.

Bernard: Mary Martello played Lady Bracknell in Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest, so she’s more than earned her spurs in this sort of environment, and so has Jane Ridley. They’re all exceptional.

The only one that I’d never seen do classical work was Jessica Bedford, but I’d seen her do And Then There Were None, so she’d worked with us before, and she handles the English accent very well.

They’re all world class actors. I believe they could take the stage anywhere, in New York, London, and would be among the best.

Victorian women in A Woman of No Importance. Photo by Mark Garvin.

Henrik: Is there any particular approach you prefer in giving feedback to your actors?

Bernard: Yes. The director I admired most that I worked with over the years was Malcolm Black. He directed numerous shows at the Walnut, and his method of giving notes was individual. He would not give notes to the entire company. He would never run the risk of offending somebody in front of the rest of the company, so I used the same methodology. I thought it worked wonderfully well.

If there was a note I would give anyone, I would take them aside and give them the note, either during the rehearsal when we would have a break or after a preview. They were all personal, never a collective one other than to say, “Bravo, you did a wonderful show tonight.”

Henrik: Often, Oscar Wilde gets portrayed as a caricature—a talented, narcissistic, rich dandy—giving people who don’t appreciate his wit a chance to cut him down.

Your production did the opposite: as Lord Illingworth, a dubious, almost Weinsteinean character who wanted to right one of the wrongs in his life, Ian Merrill Peakes moves and even sits down with a wide range of elegant Wildean motions and gestures, each one presenting another kaleidoscopic aspect of Wilde at the height of his social and literary fame.
How did you get Peakes to turn each moment into a unique vignette, as if Oscar Wilde himself had arrived on the Walnut stage?

Ian Merrill Peakes and Karen Peakes in A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE at the Walnut Street Theatre. Photo by Mark Garvin.

Bernard: Ian brings that strength to his creativity as an actor. He grew up in a theatrical family. His father John worked for us as an actor at the Walnut, and also a director, so Ian is imbued with the same blood of the theater. Ian’s really cut from a classical model, able to extend his talents over a considerable range. He’s done a lot of Shakespearean roles. Just recently, he played Salieri at the Folger Theatre and was lauded for that performance in Washington, D.C.
Not many notes for Ian from me.

Henrik: What did you do to make sure that the American in England didn’t sound like everyone else?

Audrey Ward as the American, Miss Hester Worsley and Karen Peakes as Mrs. Allonby. Photo by Mark Garvin.

Bernard: I didn’t want people thinking, “Where she is from?” One of the characters refers to having met one of her relatives in Boston, but I didn’t want to lay that dialect on her. Audrey had a nice American accent that was devoid of any regional flavor, and I thought that was appropriate.

Henrik: What was it like directing your own son, the multi-talented Brandon O’Rourke—playing the young Gerald Arbuthnot, in love with the visiting American woman?

Bernard: He was asked by a director that has known Brandon all of his life, who was here for his 21st birthday last week, what it was like to be directed by his father, and Brandon said it was different than any other director he had worked with.

Henrik: What was different in your communication as a director with your son?

Alicia Roper as Mrs. Arbuthnot and Brandon O’Rourke as Gerald Arbuthnot, her son. Photo by Mark Garvin.

Bernard: In Brandon’s case, because he lives under the same roof as me, it was very easy to talk to him.

Henrik: Not all actors always agree. How do you handle their suggestions, especially if some of them come from your son?

Bernard: An actor sometimes will say, “I don’t agree with you,” and I will say, “Well, why don’t we try it and see who’s right?” And sometimes they’re right, and sometimes I’m right. I like to be objective about the situation and see if it works in terms of the audience. When we try something, it’s really in front of an audience. That’s why we’re so fortunate to have nine previews, so those things can be worked out, and we can hear what the response is from the audience.

Henrik: Could you give an example?

Bernard: Sure, did the laugh work, or did it land properly? Sometimes I might say, “Don’t you have to wait another pause—give it a Pinter pause to let it land, so you don’t jump on the next guy’s line.” It was easy. In fact, it was very easy.

Working with Brandon was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life.

Producing Artistic Director Bernard Havard, his wife, Judy, and Actor Brandon O'Rourke. Photo courtesy Walnut Street Theatre.

[Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut Street] January 14-March 1, 2020; walnutstreettheatre.org

This interview was originally published by Phindie on February 18, 2020.

For the other two parts of this three-part interview, click these links:

Part 1, Risks can lead to financial loss: Interview with Bernard Havard on A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE at the Walnut Street Theatre, and
Part 3, What’s going on behind the scenes?: Interview with Bernard Havard on working with his creative team at the Walnut Street Theatre.

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Risks can lead to financial loss: Interview with Bernard Havard on A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE at the Walnut Street Theatre

2/17/2020

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By Henrik Eger

Bernard Havard. Photo courtesy Walnut Street Theatre.

Thirty seven years ago, Bernard Havard was named president and producing artistic director to bring back to life America’s oldest continuously running theater, the Walnut Street Theatre. Together with his creative and administrative staff, Havard developed one of the most popular theaters on the East Coast. However, even the most successful theaters, especially those which take a risk with a play that might be difficult, can take a financial loss.

Few producers and directors would be willing to talk about these aspects of running a cultural institution. Havard admitted that for his production of Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance, “I’m not selling the number of tickets I hoped to sell.” In this interview, he described the risks he took and the efforts he and his team made to lead to one full house after another since Valentine’s Day.

Taking risks can lead to a financial loss for a theater

Walnut Street Theatre. Photo by E. Frizzelle for Visit Philadelphia.

Henrik Eger: Recently, you took the risk of putting on the rarely performed A Woman of No Importance. What gave you the courage to produce and direct this wit-filled Oscar Wilde drama, which takes place in upper class Victorian England butdoes not come with the razzle-dazzle of My Fair Lady and other productions familiar to American audiences?

Bernard Havard: I enjoy Oscar Wilde’s work. I have great admiration for his writing, and I have great admiration for his courage. He was a man of great courage. Also, the play speaks to me about democratic values versus the British class system, which for me was always full of hypocrisy. But it has been a risk, and it continues to be a risk, because I’m not selling the number of tickets I hoped to sell.

Take the title: The Importance of Being Earnest is an extraordinarily well-known title, the most popular of his plays, but A Woman of No Importance is not as popular. It’s a more difficult play. He wrote the play in four acts, and the first three acts all take place at the large manor house, and they’re all full of Wildean wit and humor. But then, after Lord Illingworth attempts to kiss and seduce the young American lady, the Puritan, it becomes rather melodramatic, and it’s a tough change for the audience. It just is.

A Woman of No Importance, part of the playbill.

I think, possibly was influenced to some degree by Henrik Ibsen at that stage of his career. He was trying to mark out some new territory in terms of his playwriting. I find it an important transition, and I find it very moving, too. Some women I know weep with that scene, because they’re familiar with those relationships.

Henrik: For the role of a young American woman in search of an aristocratic husband, you took another risk by hiring a Temple sophomore. Tell us more about Audrey Ward and the difficult role of playing an independent American woman as seen through the eyes of Wilde in the early 1890s.

Bernard: I wanted it to be authentic, especially when Wilde describes this character as 18 years old. I held auditions for 35 young actresses, who had been screened by Rita, my assistant, and Audrey stood out in her audition as being able to command that role.

I’m less interested in academic training for actors and actresses. You either have the talent or you don’t. Talent is not something you can be taught. She has talent, and she took direction very well, which I guess she learned from her professors at Temple.

Connecting an old British play with a modern American audience

Jessica Bedford as Lady Stutfield and Karen Peakes as Mrs. Allonby. Photo by Mark Garvin.

Henrik: What did you, your experienced actors, and your creative team do to present this satirical setup in such a way that American audiences would relate to it, especially as we are dealing with the barriers of linguistic class divisions in Victorian England?

Bernard: First of all, I made a number of substantive cuts to the text. I also allowed the actors to get involved in the cuts. During the rehearsal process, we probably reduced the play’s running time by about half an hour, and a lot of the references that we cut were references that were too obscure, or too English, or too unrelatable to an American experience. I didn’t see any point in keeping references that made no sense to a contemporary American audience.

However, I did supply one word to the text: when Karen Peakes as Mrs. Allonby mentions the place they’re talking about—Philadelphia. That was my one addition, and I thought it worked, because Wilde had been to Philadelphia. He knew about its Centennial International Exhibition. That’s what the young girl is actually reading about, so when the actress says, “that city with the funny name,” it was Philadelphia. It was a great laugh that American audiences could relate to.

Henrik: Strong British accents can present a problem for American audiences.

Bernard: All of the actors, I think more or less, gave me an English accent that was as close to being understood as you could get. I didn’t want any regional accents; I didn’t want any Yorkshire accents; I didn’t want any Cockneys. I was trying to get a clear English accent that was acceptable in terms of pronunciation. We worked very hard at pronunciation to make sure everybody was consistent.

When audience members complain about sound, something else might be going on

Henrik: Some people complained about sound, even though you have an excellent sound system. Like other theaters, the Walnut rents out hearing aids, free of charge, for anyone who requests a set before the show.

Bernard: A lot of it has to do with the accents. It’s an adjustment. Also, people, I don’t think, have the same kind of attention span that they had a few decades ago. It’s becoming more and more difficult.

Certainly Ian Merrill Peakes as Lord Illingworth knows how to project, and so does Mary Martello as Lady Caroline Pontefract. You have a company of actors who basically know how to project in a proscenium theater.

Ian Merrill Peakes as Lord Illingworth and Brandon O’Rourke as Gerald Arbuthnot. Photo by Mark Garvin.

But it is an adjustment for an American to come in and hear a bunch of foreigners on that stage, people with foreign accents, anyway. And you have to adjust and listen.

The sound is heightened. There are a number of microphones on that stage. There are four small foot mics, and then there are mics in the vases and around the set to pick up the dialogue. Everything is amplified.

I just don’t like putting radio mics on actors for a classic piece like that. One of my bugbears is making sure the audience can’t see the microphone. If you see a microphone on an actor who’s performing in a classic piece, it takes me right out of it. Like, what the hell is that little thing on the forehead of that actor doing there? So I’m a bit old fashioned, I suppose, when it comes to hiring actors that can project.

Wilde at the Walnut: Valentine’s Day push, filling America’s oldest theater

Old Valentine's Day card from the late 1800s.

Henrik: Earlier, you said that, unlike your other productions, A Woman of No Importance did not sell so well. What did you do to rectify this situation?

Bernard: We made a really large social media push for Valentine’s Day. We got my son, Brandon [O’Rourke who played Gerald Arbuthnot], involved and asked him to push it on his extensively subscribed social media platforms. Actually, he offered to do that. Contained in these social media posts was an ability to go to his bio to find the link to purchase tickets.
We attempted to get the rest of the cast involved by making production shots available to them. We offered special “two fer’s” and a $27 ticket for Valentine’s Day. All in all, we used Instagram, Facebook, and I believe some Twitter. We are also experimenting with texting.

Henrik: Impressive cooperation. What impact did this Valentine’s campaign have on ticket sales?

Bernard: It increased our attendance. We were probably selling close to 500 seats a performance, and this jacked it up to over 750 seats, so that’s something like a 50% increase. We now have a President’s Day special. Everyone is invited.

Henrik: Oscar Wilde’s wit and spirit will be hovering over the stage in every sold out performance, no doubt. And the unexpected ending of this play, which came as a shock in 1893, is delighting thousands of theatergoers.

[Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut Street] January 14-March 1, 2020; walnutstreettheatre.org

Oscar Wilde, autograph draft of A Woman of No Importance, titled Mrs Arbuthnot, with corrections and additions, 1892-1893.
British Library.

This interview was originally published by Phindie on February 17, 2020.

For the other two parts of this three-part interview, click these links:

Part 2, As if Oscar Wilde himself had arrived on the Walnut stage: Interview with Bernard Havard on casting and working with his actors, and
Part 3, What’s going on behind the scenes?: Interview with Bernard Havard on working with his creative team at the Walnut Street Theatre.

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Talking to the Roosevelts: Interview with Eleanor, Franklin, and Sara from the cast of ELEANOR at Media Theatre

2/6/2020

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By Henrik Eger

Maxwell Porterfield as Eleanor with four children. Photo by Maura Boruchow McConnell.

Eleanor – An American Love Story runs January 29-February 23, 2020, at the Media Theatre. A little-known musical, Eleanor (music by Thomas Tierney, lyrics by John Forster, book by Jonathon Bolt) has been a favorite at regional theaters since the first production was staged in 1987 in Seattle, WA. The musical is based on the early lives of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, from their passionate courtship, through their complicated marriage with a domineering mother-in-law, to Eleanor’s emerging role as a catalyst for social change in America.

In Media, Eleanor is played by Maxwell Porterfield, Franklin is played by Patrick Ludt, and Sara Roosevelt (FDR’s mother) is played by actress Susan Wefel (see below for historical biographies). Henrik Eger spoke to the actors about their roles and the real-life characters behind them.

[Media Theatre, 104 E. State Street, Media, PA] January 29-February 23, 2020; mediatheatre.org

Patrick Ludt & Maxwell Porterfield as Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt in a 1936 Ford Phaeton, parked at the Media Theatre.
Photo by Patricia Cofiell.

Henrik Eger: What did you learn about your character that you did not know until the Media Theatre offered you the job?

Eleanor Roosevelt (portrayed by Maxwell Porterfield): I didn’t know that Eleanor was reluctant to be a public figure and for her husband to go all the way to the presidency. Not that I expected her to have planned to be First Lady, but rather, I thought that someone who made such a large impact over her lifetime would’ve felt more in her element. Eleanor always wanted to help people, but in her early years, she was very shy and lacking in confidence. Her life is an example that people are not limited to their current circumstances or abilities.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (portrayed by Patrick Ludt): I learned a lot about the early FDR years that you don’t hear much about in school, including his run for State Senate of New York and his time as Assistant Secretary to the Navy in the Wilson administration.

Sara Delano Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s mother (portrayed by Susan Wefel): I learned that FDR’s mother was very controlling, and FDR appeared as a bit of a momma’s boy.

Eger: What are your two favorite scenes involving your character and why?

Porterfield as Eleanor Roosevelt: One of my favorite scenes is when Eleanor realizes what her interests and life’s work are. I think this is an important realization for every person, but in this case it was the start of a life which made an enormous impact on the world. Another scene poignantly shows how Eleanor chooses to give up the life she wants to serve the greater good.

Ludt as Franklin Roosevelt: I enjoy the scene where Eleanor and Franklin tell his mother they intend to get married. I think it’s quite funny. Next would be the speech that I recite during one of Eleanor’s songs in the second act, “He Touches Me.” I find the words moving.

Wefel as Sara Delano Roosevelt: Favorite scenes for me are Act 1, Scene 5, the wedding night, when Momma leaves her bedroom at Springwood to visit Franklin and Eleanor for a week and tells them about her newly-constructed plans for a double townhouse in NYC with “connecting floors” so that she can always be with them when they need her. Also, Momma’s lecture to Eleanor about “serving one’s husband first” from Act 1, Scene 7. Poor Eleanor didn’t have a chance! Or did she?

Maxwell Porterfield

Eger: Share your favorite quotes from your Roosevelt character and the effect they had on you.

Porterfield as Eleanor Roosevelt: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” This is one that I have known from an early age. It made quite the impact on me, because we live in a world where people try to tell you who you are and label you. Although we can’t control what others say, this quote reminds us that we can choose which voices we listen to.

Patrick Ludt

Ludt as Franklin Roosevelt: “For it is not to our glory that we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide for those who have too little.”

I love this quote, which eloquently states that people matter more than money. It compares helping the needy versus increasing the wealth of the rich—posing the question, which is more glorious?

“I have no control over her, Mother; she’s only my wife.” This comes at a moment when Eleanor stands up to Franklin’s mother, Sara, who is telling Franklin to make Eleanor stop. I just think it’s such a clever little answer that shows FDR’s wit and understanding of how, just because they’re married, doesn’t mean he can tell her what to do.

Wefel as Sara Delano Roosevelt: Favorite line—“Franklin, you can’t be a politician; you’re a gentleman!”

Eger: As life goes by faster than many people realize, what would you like the next generation of theatergoers to know about this musical that connects Americans to history?

Porterfield as Eleanor Roosevelt: Life is so much more than comfort or getting what we want. Eleanor decided to live outside her comfort zone. She was faced with many difficult decisions, and she chose the path that was often the most difficult. These are the kinds of decisions that one has to make in order to live a remarkable life.

Susan Wefel

Ludt as Franklin Roosevelt: This musical provides a good, relatable glimpse into the early lives of Eleanor and FDR. It includes their conflicts in their marriage and shows the early history of their political rise.

Most importantly, it demonstrates how Eleanor influenced FDR and how she gained her own political voice over the years.

Wefel as Sara Delano Roosevelt: What I learned from working on the show was that these Roosevelts were real American Royalty. As a result, I gained an appreciation for their hard work on our country’s behalf.

Eger: Many thanks to all the Roosevelts!

[Media Theatre, 104 E. State Street, Media, PA] January 29-February 23, 2020; mediatheatre.org

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt promotes the Victory Bond in Times Square. courtesy of History101.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (Oct. 11, 1884 – Nov. 7, 1962), an American political figure, diplomat and activist, acted as the First Lady of the United States from Mar. 4, 1933, to Apr. 12, 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four terms in office, making her the longest-serving First Lady of the United States. She served as the US Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952. President Harry S. Truman, FDR’s Vice President, later called her the “First Lady of the World” in tribute to her human rights achievements. Watch an historical interview with her from 1958 which shows us in beautiful ways how Eleanor saw life at the White House.

This photo is one of only two that show Franklin D. Roosevelt in his wheelchair. Photo by Margaret Suckley, courtesy of History101.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Jan. 30, 1882 – Apr. 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death. A member of the Democratic Party, he won a record four presidential elections and directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda in response to the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II. He is rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but has also been subject to substantial criticism.

Sara Ann Delano Roosevelt (Sept. 21, 1854 – Sept. 7, 1941) was the second wife of James Roosevelt I and the mother of President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt, her only child, and subsequently the mother-in-law of Eleanor Roosevelt.

(All three bios adapted from Wikipedia.)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor. She holds Franklin's glass, and he holds her knitting.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library.

The cast of the Media Theatre’s production of Eleanor, An American Love Story--book by Jonathon Bolt, lyrics by John Forster, music by Thomas Tierney, and directed by Jesse Cline—also includes the following talented actors: Roger Ricker as Louis Howe, Hannah Parke as Alice Roosevelt, Kelly Briggs as Theodore Roosevelt and Al Smith, Chelsea Aubert as Lucy Mercer, Lila Bea Hannon and Lily Jo Shelkin as Young Eleanor and Young Anna, Elliott Boldin and Preston Newton as Young James and Hester, Zachary Amos and Tyler Motlasz as Teen James, Lulu Spinelli and Chloe Tomaszweski as Maria, Sutton Gold and Reese Masiello as Spike, and Greyson Heneks and Zoe Nesbitt as Pepini.

This interview was originally published by Phindie on February 6, 2020.

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What’s going on behind the scenes?: Interview with Bernard Havard on working with his creative team at the Walnut Street Theatre

As if Oscar Wilde himself had arrived on the Walnut stage: Interview with Bernard Havard on casting and working with his actors

Risks can lead to financial loss: Interview with Bernard Havard on A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE at the Walnut Street Theatre

Talking to the Roosevelts: Interview with Eleanor, Franklin, and Sara from the cast of ELEANOR at Media Theatre

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