An interview with Ken Williams

OCTOBER, BEFORE I WAS BORN actor Ken T. Williams makes his MCT mainstage debut after performing in the staged reading of OCTOBER, BEFORE I WAS BORN in 2011 and the Young Playwrights Festival one-acts A ROSE FOR MRS. KEMP and NAUGHTY CHILDREN. He most recently appeared in THE UNDERSTUDY at Renaissance Theaterworks and has also worked with First Stage, Optimist Theatre, In Tandem Theatre, Windfall Ensemble and Bunny Gumbo. He is a graduate of UW-Milwaukee. 

 

Ken T. Williams

Tell us a little about your character, Houston? What are some of his key characteristics and motivations?

 

Houston is an ex-convict that currently lives with parents having just recently been released from prison.  He is not someone who thinks before acting and usually puts himself in difficult situations because of that impatience.  Houston is living in the shadow of his older siblings especially Paul who seems to do everything right.  His objective throughout the play seems to be motivated by a desire to be useful.  Yet at every turn his usefulness gets him in trouble.  

In 2011 you played Houston in MCT’s staged reading of OCTOBER, BEFORE I WAS BORN. Please share insights on what it is like to return to this piece for a fully-staged production.

First of all it’s great to be able to revisit a character you enjoyed playing.  But even more so when you get to see that character come to life on the stage. There is also a sense of ownership in having spent time with this character for more than two years.  Michael knew pretty early on that he wanted to stage this show so I knew I would have the chance to play with Houston again.  I can't wait to see where Houston takes me over the course of the production.  To be able to grow with a character and see yourself grow as well.  We change every moment of the day therefore our characters must change as well.

Playwright Lori Matthews attended your first rehearsal and is available as a resource to the artists in MCT’s production. What is it like having access to the playwright?

It is an absolute blessing.  Although Lori did such an excellent job writing this script and we talked so much during the reading that I haven't needed to contact her often.  But it is so nice to know that if I get stuck or we get to a point where we need a little perspective we can call her and she is more than willing to shed some light for us.  At the same time Lori is more than willing to share this with us and let us make these characters part of who we are and that is something really special.  

You are currently performing in THE UNDERSTUDY at Renaissance Theaterworks and in rehearsal for OCTOBER, BEFORE I WAS BORN at the same time. What are some similarities and differences between the two characters? Do you ever find that working on multiple shows at once affects either character?

Well both Harry from THE UNDERSTUDY and Houston from OCTOBER,BEFORE I WAS BORN seem to mess things up for themselves but in very different ways.  Harry's problem is that he doesn't know what he wants...one minute he hates movies and the next he's jazzed about them.  He leaves Roxanne but immediately regrets the decision...especially after he sees her.  Harry is serious about his career and how it is perceived but his personal life is in shambles...and he knows it.  Houston on the other hand doesn't have a clue how bad off he is.  He loves to blame others for the hardships he's had to suffer in his life.  Responsibility is not something he is comfortable with and when it falls in his lap he can rarely, I say rarely, rise to the occasion.   

What are some of your favorite moments in theatre that made you who you are today?

Every moment I get is my favorite.  I love diving into a character and living in their shoes.  I love filling in a back story and realizing the relationships, discovering the objectives, looking for the obstacles, and creating the tactics to get to my objective.  I love the process, but more than that I love sharing it with an audience.  I love being in front of a group of people willing to go on a journey with me and taking them somewhere they didn't expect.  There are many defining moments for me in my career, but if I had to choose one it would be working on LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT with a very close cast that included my wife.  That was a show where I spent more time preparing for a character than performing him...and it was amazing.  The whole process opened me up to really using history to dig into a character.  Something that also helps with this show. 

HONORING A REGION: An interview with playwright Lori Matthews

By Marcella Kearns, MCT Lead Educator and Literary Manager

1960.  Senator John F. Kennedy runs against Vice President Richard Nixon for the office of POTUS.  TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee is published, and Hitchcock’s PSYCHO is released.  Arnold Palmer wins the U.S. Open golf championship.  Students protesting segregation in the United States hold sit-ins at whites-only lunch counters at Woolworth.  Wisconsin faces Washington in the Rose Bowl and loses 44-8.  The first weather satellite to broadcast television images of cloud cover is launched by the United States…

Events most significant to us tend to etch such minute detail into our memory and senses that we can place ourselves in those circumstances again effortlessly (whether we wish to or not).  For the residents of Kingsport, Tennessee and the surrounding area, the events of October 4, 1960 have that dread weight.  Lori Matthews, playwright of OCTOBER, BEFORE I WAS BORN, hails originally from Kingsport, though she now makes her home in Stoughton, Wisconsin.  She was born, as the title of this semi-autobiographical piece implies, less than a year after tragedy struck her hometown.  Just before the first rehearsal and read-through of the play for MCT’s production, she sits with me in MCT’s conference room to discuss her connection to the story and what drew her to explore it as the background for her family drama.

“I imagine it’s similar to people who were in Hawaii for Pearl Harbor, people who were in Dallas when JFK was shot,” she says.  “There’s something that happens in your backyard that changes the way the world looks the next day.  In our area, for a long time, it was this accident.  People knew where they were when they heard the explosion or what they did after.  It was rural folklore.”  The memory extends far beyond the boundaries of the region, as we’ll discover.  In less than half an hour, Ken Lukow, an MCT Friend and retired engineer attending the read-through, will recall for Lori how his company at the time worked with Tennessee Eastman—how he still recalls hearing the news.

Tennessee Eastman Company, a chemical manufacturing corporation, was and remains (as Eastman Chemical Company) the largest employer in the region around Kingsport, Tennessee.  In 1960, over 12,000 employees worked at the complex—“To see it, it looks like a city in itself,” Lori shares.  Around 4:45 PM on October 4, Building 207 of the aniline division of the plant exploded, sending a mushroom cloud into the sky and shattering glass in buildings up to four miles away.  Containment of the subsequent fire and retrieval or rescue of victims of the explosion took the efforts of emergency responders and residents from several neighboring towns and cities.  Lori continues, recalling her research and stories from relatives: “Even though it was a huge company, there was still a sense of community—it left the people in charge broken-hearted that it happened.  Communities gathered to give blood, Boy Scout troops to pick up trash and aid in repairs…At that time, it was everyone’s plight.”  A community tragedy, in other words, also became a community response.
 
For those who experienced October 4 and even for those who were born after, the event was indelible.  Lori herself grew up a child of Tennessee Eastman employees.  She recalls going to Horsekrickers on Saturday mornings, where children of employees could see movies, roller skate, and socialize, and seeing a piece of shrapnel from the explosion across the street.  She recalls a more pivotal moment in the history of the play’s inception, then: years later, when her mother was in the hospital and Lori was visiting, a nurse came to take some vitals.  Her mother noticed that the nurse had the same last name as one of the victims of the explosion, and she wondered if the two were related.  Then her mother uttered a phrase which would stick: “In October, before you were born...”

For Lori, her mother’s recall of the event, her hometown’s experience, and Lori’s personal circumstances—culminating in being with and waiting for news of her mother in the hospital—ultimately provided seeds for the fundamental questions of the play itself.  The notion of any period of suspense in one’s life, whether due to illness, emergency, or opportunity, led her to explore the situation in which audiences will see characters in OCTOBER—three family members waiting to hear about news of loved ones who were at the plant at the time of the emergency.  “How do you fill that time?  What do you do with yourself?  How does that shape how you think about life [in the interim, or after]?  In writing I tried to stay true to what I did know about waiting, filling the time, the worry; the questions of do you think hopefully?  Do you prepare for the worst?  And what do you do when you’re stuck in a room with someone you don’t normally get along with, besides?”  Though the characters involved are rooted squarely in fiction, Lori explains that she wished to take great care in handling the history in which they’re placed with gentleness and respect.  Ultimately, she hopes asking those questions against the backdrop of an intimate part of family and community history honors all those involved in or affected by the event in Kingsport—and, in wider scope, to anyone who has endured a period of waiting, whether the end result is loss, disappointment, relief, or triumph.

Our conversation detours, then, to end in affectionate reflection for the geography in which OCTOBER is set.  Lori mentions that about 60 members of her family attended the world premiere at the Barter Theatre in Virginia and confesses that much of her inspiration in writing stems from the Appalachian region of her birth.  I ask her if for that reason she considers herself a regional writer, despite adopting Wisconsin as her home.  She concurs.  “When I was in graduate school, I had a movement teacher who asked me how I had adjusted to indoor plumbing when he found out I had come from eastern Tennessee…  The stereotype of Appalachia is really different from what I know.  Part of the driving force in many of the pieces I write is to honor the truth of the situation and to correct the stereotype.”  She’s thrilled with the care in the acting and design work already in progress at MCT—from scenic designer Jen Trieloff’s wallpaper choices to Raeleen McMillion’s dialect.

We’re thrilled to have her with us.

Notes from the Playwirght of OCTOBER, BEFORE I WAS BORN

Playwright Lori Matthews

I was born and raised in Kingsport, Tennessee.  When I was a kid, I thought everyone in the world worked for Tennessee Eastman Company; everyone in my world did.  TEC’s workforce came from a six-county area in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.  Over 12,000 men and women worked shifts that kept the plant in constant operation, primarily producing chemicals and plastics. 

            Both my parents, my grandfathers and three of my uncles were on shifts at 4:45 p.m. on October 4, 1960.  My mother, Mae Taylor Tate, was a secretary in the personnel office.  My father, James Tate, worked shift work in the TEC asbestos division.  The aniline building explosion has been part of the oral history of my family for my entire life.  When my mother talked to me about it, she often prefaced her comments with, “In October, before you born. . . .”  I’m grateful for the vivid picture she offered and for the many members of my large extended family who have, over the past fifty years, told me their versions of the evening.   However, this play is a fictionalized account based on true events.  No character is intended to represent any actual person, living or dead.

            In an earlier form, October, Before I was Born received readings and workshops through Wisconsin Wrights and Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s Montgomery Davis New Play Development Series.  Those opportunities have been instrumental in bringing the work to the stage.  I am humbled by the amount of time and talent made available to me in support of this play, and I am grateful to all the actors, directors, readers, designers, and support staff who have contributed to the process.  However, I would like to specifically and especially acknowledge the helpful influence of Jacque Troy and C. Michael Wright, whose early encouragement and advice moved the script from rough draft to finished product.  

            The impact from the aniline explosion damaged many homes and businesses in Kingsport.  Sixteen men died, and more than 300 workers suffered injuries from the blast.  Thousands of people displayed acts of courage and selflessness. 

                                    With respect for all those affected—

                                    Lori Matthews 

An interview with Ryan Schabach

Ryan Schabach makes his MCT debut as Bill in THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE. In Wisconsin he has performed with Next Act Theatre, In Tandem Theatre, Door Shakespeare, Third Avenue Playhouse, Forward Theater Company and Milwaukee Repertory Theater.  A graduate of UW-Madison, he has also worked with Stages Rep, Utah Shakespeare Festival and Unity Theatre.

Ryan Schabach

Tell us a little about your character Bill? What are some of his key characteristics and motivations? 

Bill is high up on the corporate ladder in the management sector of the Seagram’s Corporation.  When we first meet him he has recently transferred his office (most likely a lateral move within the company) from the world headquarters in White Plains, NY to a condo unit a few hours drive west.  Organization is a key feature of Bill's day-to-day lifestyle.  It may appear to the outside eye that he is a bit OCD, but this character trait is a tool in which Bill is able to, at the very least, appear to have some sort of control in his life.  His marriage is on the rocks and he is emotionally lost in a sea of confusion.  Bill is a sensitive soul and kind almost to a fault...he takes to heart what people think of him and he is always aiming to please those around him.

Talk about the benefits and challenges of being part of a two-person cast. How has your experience been in THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE?
The format of the 2-person show is such a joy to work under.  It affords the artistic team the time to have serious and often times, personal conversations about their motivations.  Those conversations transfer to the stage in ways that only a small cast collective can accomplish.  The moment-to-moment acting is allowed time to create nuance in very specific acting/reacting beats.  One challenge that appears obvious would be the line-load for the two actors...but there is something wonderful about the added lines that allow the actor to better comprehend the playwright's intent.  I seem to have a better understanding of my character's needs, wants and desires with the added time on stage.  Because you have more time on stage to interact with your scene partner you don't have to create as much of a back story for your character...it's happening in real-time on stage!  And that is exciting not only for the actors but also for the audience.  This play is such a joy to work on because I feel so close to my character...I have the opportunity to wear him on my vest because we are so close in philosophy and sensibility.  The amazing team that makes up this production and those in the office that have created such a welcoming and positive environment to work under at MCT, are the real heroes behind this project...and I thank them everyday for this opportunity.

What are some of your favorite moments in theatre that made you who you are today?
I have had the great fortune to create a character called Buttons in 4 BRITISH PANTOS at Stages Rep in Houston...during these four holiday productions I would bring children from the audience onto the stage to improve funny scenes with them....there is truth to the statement, "children say the darndest things." 

What is interesting to this story is that I am scared stiff when it comes to improv

If your character could spend a day in Milwaukee, where would they go and what would they do?

Coffee shop reading of some classic 18th century French romantic philosopher...at Colectivo (your choice of location...Bill loves them all); 6 hours at the Milwaukee Art Museum; wait in line for the opening of the HOBBIT at the iPic in the Bay Shore Mall (with buttered popcorn because Bill works out at the downtown YMCA every other day); and topped off with a local IPA at O’Lydia's.

An interview with Dan Katula

Dan Katula takes on the role of Jack Foster in THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE. He returns to MCT where previous roles include Will in BUS STOP, Warren in MOON OVER THE BREWERY, Buddy in KIMBERLY AKIMBO, Angus in THE DRAWER BOY and Charlie in DIRTY BLONDE. He has also worked with First Stage Children's Theater, Renaissance Theaterworks and Bunny Gumbo/Combat Theatre, Door Shakespeare and the Cleveland Playhouse. His work as a puppet builder was featured in the Milwaukee productions of WHO KILLED SANTA? and he built the elephant for MCT’s AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS.

l-r: Ethan Hall & Dan Katula in BUS STOP (2012)

Tell us a little about your character Jack? What are some of his key characteristics and motivations?
Jack suggests ordering a pizza early in Act One, this is clearly his motivation for the rest of the play.

Talk about the benefits and challenges of being part of a two-person cast. How has your experience been in THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE?
I like being able to guess who has been eating my food, but the massage chain is is hit or miss.

What are some of your favorite moments in theatre that made you who you are today?

l-r: Travis Knight, Amanda Hull & Dan Katula
in MOON OVER THE BREWERY (2009)

Meeting my wife Allison doing summer-stock theatre.

If your character could spend a day in Milwaukee, where would they go and what would they do?
Lakefront Brewery tour (6:45 and 7:10) wander down to Water St. and end up at Arts Performing Center.

PLAYWRIGHT'S PERSPECTIVE: Wendy MacLeod

by Ashley Argall 

Maya Angelou once said, “If you can’t change something, change your attitude toward it.”

Playwright Wendy MacLeod

Award-winning playwright Wendy MacLeod seemed to have these words in mind when writing some of her most famous works.

MacLeod possesses a unique ability to examine the world’s misfortunes through comedy. Her plays do not shy away from challenging subject matter, but her uniquely lighthearted and comical characters create a tone that is positive, irreverent, and entertaining.

MacLeod says her main goal as a playwright is to fully express her outlook on life at a given moment.

Considering the themes of her plays, MacLeod’s outlook seems to understand that troubles exist in the world and that many cannot be easily fixed. However, instead of lamenting life’s miseries, MacLeod opts to poke fun at them.

Through her candid, witty, and intelligent writing, she provides audiences a unique perspective on human suffering, leading them to leave the theater uplifted, inspired and, most greatly, entertained.

MacLeod’s uplifting and comedic writing style has proven quite popular. Her 1990 play THE HOUSE OF YES became the second-longest running show at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre and premiered oversees in both London and Berlin. It later was adapted into a Sundance award-winning film.

In 1994 and 1995, SIN and SCHOOLGIRL FIGURE, respectively, premiered at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, and in 1997, THE WATER CHILDREN premiered at The Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles where it earned six L.A. Drama Critics Circle nominations and earned recognition in L.A. Weekly, which called it, “the most challenging political play of 1998.” The play grapples candidly with the pro-life vs. pro-choice debate.

In 2003, MacLeod wrote the two-man comedy THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE, which premiered at Seattle Repertory Theatre and was produced at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre. The Chicago production was so popular its sold-out run was extended twice.

Be on the lookout for Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s rendition of the play running from November 20 – December 15, 2013!

"THINGS is a departure for me, in tone and form,” MacLeod said in an interview with Mark Howell in 2004. “It is a comedy, but more traditional, bittersweet, and REAL than my other plays.”

While the play deals with a variety of human troubles, including loneliness and infidelity, it takes on a much more relaxed an conversational style. Comedic lines are subtle and natural, as opposed to overtly dramatic. Audience members can almost picture themselves in the room with the two main characters, Bill and Jack, sharing in their conversation about life.

The play is written from the male perspective, a departure for MacLeod as a female writer. As the Chicago Tribune put it, “Despite (or maybe it’s because of) its origin in the female mind, this…play…probes the vulnerabilities of heterosexual, middle-class, decaying maleness….with good humor, affection, and incisive accuracy.”

MacLeod says the main theme of the play concerns the “restlessness and dissatisfaction” she believes many affluent people suffer.

“Once they’ve solved their basic problems – choices about their careers and mates – there’s this, ‘And then what?’ There’s this real yen for some kind of connection. The most banal choice is to flail around for a sexual connection. But in the second act of THINGS, two men make another sort of connection - a humane one.” 

Through this connection, MacLeod looked to end the play, as she always does, with an uplifting tone. “When one person treats another like a human being…there’s hope in that gesture.”

The art of a 'bro-mance'

An interview with director Michael Cotey
by Matt Wickey

As most regulars around the Broadway Theatre Center know, MCT's mission is to produce intimate, high-quality, professional theatrical works while employing, supporting, and nurturing local talent.  It is this dedication and mission that allows both MCT and its friends to celebrate the work of artists like Michael Cotey, director of MCT's upcoming quirky, 'bro-mantic' comedy THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE by Wendy MacLeod.  Michael is a Milwaukee-based director and actor who enjoys an incredibly impressive resume, working in nearly every theatre company in the city.  His work has also been featured in places such as both the Utah and Illinois Shakespeare Festivals, not to mention Youngblood Theatre Company, where he was a co-founder and artistic director from 2009-2013.  As a young theatre artist myself, people like Michael Cotey truly inspire me, so I was thrilled to be able to talk with him and gain an insight to his perspective on THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE. Michael was generous enough to let me "pick his brain" on all topics regarding the upcoming production, where the special relationship between man and man is investigated and uncovered. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did!

For context on the conversation to follow, a bit about THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE's featured characters.  In the play, we first meet the character Bill McGinnis.  Bill is a seemingly stable and well-mannered man, and he has just moved in to a new condo with his wife, who we soon learn is "at her folks."  While Bill awaits her arrival alone in his new home, he hears a strange voice: "Hello?"  Jack Foster, his new next-door neighbor, has arrived.  And thus, our 'bro-mance' is born.

Matt Wickey (MCT): What is it like working on a script that examines a 'bro-mantic' relationship, with the unique perspective of a female playwright?
Michael Cotey: I find it fascinating when a playwright captures a voice other than his or her own so completely.  And (playwright) Wendy has done that here with two distinct male characters.  Just as actors use their great capacity for empathy to understand and relate to unfamiliar circumstances and emotions, Wendy has successfully empathized with what it means to be a man-and further, with how two men, seemingly different from each other, will stumble upon what unites them if left to each other for long enough (with just the right amount of beer to lubricate the conversation).  I couldn't be more excited to begin working on Wendy's marvelous and well-paced dialogue with the two "bros" of this 'bro-mance': Ryan Schabach and Dan Katula.

MW (MCT): This unique opportunity to speak with THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE playwright, Wendy MacLeod, fascinates me.  What has this connection provided to the process?  And further, what has it been like, in general, to have the chance to communicate with the playwright of this unique work?
MC: It's always great to have the opportunity to speak with the playwright, and Wendy has been very receptive to any questions I toss her way.  In my experience, I have often found that playwrights, while willing to help, enjoy seeing how we answer the questions of the play through our own exploration of it.  I imagine that's part of the excitement of writing a play.  Unlike a movie, which exists in a more permanent medium, a play can be revisited and the same set of questions can be addressed with a wholly different set of answers by the simple virtue of putting different people in the room to work on it.  My conversations with Wendy have been primarily simple clarifications and gathering her thoughts on what worked or didn't with previous productions of the show.  The rest I'm leaving up to the fun of the rehearsal hall.

MW (MCT): What first struck you about this script/piece?  How does this script "speak" to you?
MC: I'm drawn to the exploration of the relationships Bill and Jack have with the women in their lives; specifically how much they stake their personal identity in the loves of their life.  That's something I absolutely relate to, and in the two and a half years I've been married, it has been strange (in a great way!) to see that line between "mine" and "hers" or "me" and "us" blur.  Part of this show questions who we are if we aren't defined by our relationships with others.

MW (MCT): How well do you envision this script translating to the Studio Theatre space at the BTC?
MC: This script is perfect for a space the size of the Studio Theatre.  Scenic designer Steve Barnes has transformed the Studio Theatre into what looks like the skeleton of the same generic condo you'd see in any city of any state in America.  It feels empty, a bit of a suburban wasteland with something essential missing, not unlike how both our main men are feeling in the show.

MW (MCT): What excites you most about working on THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE?  Also, what are some of the challenges that you face (as a director) with this production?
MC: This is a real genre shift from what I'm used to tackling as a director.  Many of the things I've directed either have had a lot of moving parts, multiple scene and/or time shifts, larger-than-life characters, or all of the above.  In THINGS, we have two people in the same room, measuring each other up through their conversation.  At first glance, I wondered what I would bring to this script.  Upon continued study, however, it became clear that the real gymnastics of the play lie not on the surface with theatrics, but deep in the thoughts and in the thread of the conversation.  Peeling away the layers of this story one by one and at the right time will be the challenge, and that is very exciting for me. Thankfully, Dan and Ryan are both exceptional actors and Wendy's script is a strong foundation for any production to stand on.

MW (MCT): What would you like the audience to take away from THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE?  What would you like this production to accomplish?
MC: This show asks a number of questions about relationships, love, mortality, expectations, and preconceptions (among other things), but it offers few answers to those questions-and smartly so, in my opinion.  A major theme in this show is about taking honest stock of where we are in our lives, hence the title: THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE.  What we do with that knowledge after we cut through all of our defenses and deflections, and get to the honest, core truth of it…well, that's up to us to determine.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that this play is hilarious!  It does all of the above with humor and wit.  Like any good comedy, honest revelations are sudden and slipped in at just the right moment to sneak up on us between the laughs.

THINGS BEING WHAT THEY ARE runs November 20 - December 15, 2013 in the Studio Theatre of the Broadway Theatre Center, located in the heart of Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.  Hope to see you at the show!