SCR/Party Play with Ann Conway

Playwright Tracy Letts. Honorary Producers Ralph and Sue Stern with William Friedkin

Honorary Producer Ralph Stern, actor Susannah Schulman

Honorary Producer Sue Stern, Director William Friedkin

Sherry Lansing, Henry Segerstrom, actor Kathy Baker

"NEBRASKA" HITS HOME
By Ann Conway

Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin (The French Connection) likes the works he oversees to beg-the-questions. "What I like is, when an audience sees a film or play and they leave the theatre full of wondering" about what happens to the characters' lives "beyond the production," he said.

If ever a play had that sort of impact on a South Coast Repertory audience, it was the Pulitzer Prize finalist, Man From Nebraska—written by Tracy Letts and directed by Friedkin—that opened March 17 on the Julianne Argyros Stage.

Pouring out of the theatre after watching a drama about a man whose life of quiet desperation and seemingly unanswered prayers leads him to a crisis of faith—"I haven't been feeling anything" ... "Where does your faith in God come from?" are two lines uttered by the play's protagonist, Ken Carpenter— playgoers began to pose 'wonder-ifs.'

"I wonder if they'll stay together?" asked one, referring to Carpenter (Brian Kerwin) and his wife, Nancy (Kathy Baker). It's anybody's guess. After all, the self-serving Ken has left the Midwest for Europe in a quest for spiritual understanding that detours to infidelity. He returns to Nebraska, begging his wife's forgiveness.

"Would you call Ken's quest a spiritual search or an exercises in self-indulgence?" wondered actor/comedian Shelly Berman as he joined the crowd of First Nighters—who included play underwriters Sue and Ralph Stern—for a post-performance party at Scott's Seafood & Grill. "I think, sometimes, in our quest for ourselves, we become too important. Ken had a wife and daughters at home! I am concerned for that man's frailty."

Even Friedkin was asking questions provoked by the play's content, he admitted. "I related to Ken's questions about faith. I want very much to believe and I do believe in God, but I have an enormous problem living up to what I think it takes to be a real believing person," he said. "Am I doing enough?"

Surrounded by well-wishers—who included Friedkin's wife, former Paramount Studios chief Sherry Lansing, arts patrons Elizabeth and Henry Segerstrom and SCR artistic directors David Emmes and Martin Benson—the Sterns were jubilant. "I thought it was a great show—spectacular!" said Sue Stern of the play’s West Coast premiere. "We are very supportive of SCR," she added. "My husband and I believe that theatre is wonderful, very important, for a community."

Lansing dubbed the play "one of the best theatrical experiences I've ever had." "I was completely knocked out," she continued. "I was crying at the end, I was so moved. Everybody has gone through some sort of crisis."

And while Friedkin is an ultra-sophisticated, multi-faceted director whose credits include everything from the film, The Exorcist, to a production of the opera Aida in Italy, he said his head was turned and his skills sharpened by working with the talent at the Tony-award winning SCR. "The people here are wonderful, totally dedicated to theatre. It rubs off," he observed. Added Lansing: "I hope we get to do more."

Also on the scene: Betty and S.L. Huang, Mert Wallen, Joan Kaloustian, Rebekah Gladson and Paul Cooley.

Actor Ben Livingston, Melly and Dan Lindsay	Anita Prietto, Shelley Berman, Bob Plumleigh, Pablo Prietto
Laurie Smits Staude, Gail Doe, Shelley Berman	Bobbi and Jerry Dauderman, Dee Higby
Hal Landon Jr., Olivia Johnson	Pat Weiss (neighbor of Paulette), actor Susan Dalian and Paulette Kollenschlag of US Bank
Paul Cooley, Rebekah Gladson, Linda and Robert Fritch	Actor Susannah Schulman and Ernie Doe