Writer of the year
(by Tim Woodcock - February 04, 2009 )
When Muddy Waters Theatre takes to the stage this season the spotlight will be on Edward Albee, one of the United States' most prolific contemporary playwrights. The company will perform three Albee plays, each from a different decade.
In the early 1960s Albee burst onto the American theater scene with The Zoo Story, which was quickly followed by Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Albee, who is now in his early 80s, still turns out plays at regular intervals.
Each year Muddy Waters devotes its season to a single playwright, usually resulting in the production of two well-known works and one less-known work. In past years, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and Sam Shepherd have been given the same treatment.
Albee's plays are funny but not in expected ways, said Jerry McAdams, a Central West End resident who is directing two of the three plays in the season, Three Tall Women and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Albee doesn't write comedies but his plays take a hard look at how complex and odd humans are and "they're funny because people are funny," he said.
Three Tall Woman, which will be performed Feb. 13 to March 1, is about three women of different ages whose lives are connected in a surprising way. The play was first staged in 1994 and it marked the beginning of a comeback for Albee, who had something of a fallow period in the '70s and '80s. Three Tall Woman picked up the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1994 and numerous other awards.
The roles are meaty ones for any actress and it's been very rewarding to work with Nancy Crouse, Kate Frisina and Laura Sexauer, who play the three parts, McAdams said.
McAdams said his main piece of advice to them has been to "trust the words." Albee's plays can be spoiled by unnecessary actions, he said. It's challenging to do a three-page monologue - something that each actress in Three Tall Women faces - but when it's done right, it's riveting, he said.
The second play in the Albee series, The Lady from Dubuque, will be directed by Muddy Waters founder Cameron Ulrich and will run June 12 to 28. McAdams calls the play "a nugget of good theater that nobody does." The play is structured around a series of party games. Questions such as "Who am I?" that are asked lightheartedly in the early part of the play are asked again later on but in a more serious way.
The season closer, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which is probably Albee's best-known work, will be performed Nov. 6 to 22. The setting is also a party, but this time only two married couples are present and the power dynamics are ever shifting as the night becomes more drunken and abusive.
Since its founding, Muddy Waters has followed the atypical approach of focusing on a single playwright for an entire season. The theater company has chosen that approach because it gives both the company and the audience the chance to experience an author in depth, McAdams said. It's "our niche" and "our selling point," he said. Muddy Waters was fortunate that last year the CWE-based company the St. Louis Actors' Studio did a powerful version of A Delicate Balance, another Albee play, that helped set the stage for this season, McAdams said.
Muddy Waters co-founders Cameron Ulrich and his wife Patty remain central to the company but because of their incredibly busy lives - in addition to raising three small boys, they both teach theater at local high schools - the couple has had to rely on others more this year. The Ulrichs are the co-artistic directors at Muddy Waters Theatre, but the board is working to "add arms and legs to them," McAdams said.
This season Muddy Waters will be based at the Kranzberg Arts Center , a new venue in Grand Center . It's much more comfortable than the Theater at St. John's , the company's base for many years, where the "barn"-like theater space was in a former gymnasium and the heating and cooling did not work reliably, McAdams said.
The Kranzberg's 100-seat black-box theater has an intimate feel that fits well with the kinds of plays that Muddy Waters tends to do, McAdams said.
The rent there is significantly higher than at St. John's and this year the company is really working to increase audience sizes, McAdams said. "If we have half a house every night we'll be OK." In addition to promoting the plays and making people aware of the new venue, Muddy Waters has been negotiating with Grand Center restaurants for discounts for theater patrons. McAdams said he's not too worried by the closure of Interstate 64/Highway 40. "If you can get to the Fox, you get to the Kranzberg, which is half a block away," he said.
• Three Tall Women will be performed Feb. 13 through March 1 at the Kranzberg Arts Center , 501 N. Grand Blvd. The shows are at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 and 7 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets for Three Tall Women are available by calling 540-7831 or visiting www.brownpapertickets.com.