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Secrets from the Stage
How a brand-new piece of theater got John Glover reminiscing
about his past
BY JEFF KATZ
Before he was running around with a would-be Superman on
TV's Smallville, John Glover was honing his acting chops
in theaters across the country. When the writer's strike
unexpectedly brought production of TV and movies to halt
late last year, plenty of actors took extended holiday vacations,
but Glover headed right back to the theater, prepping for
not one, but two shows at the same time.
The first, The Paris Letter, recently wrapped its weekend
run with Los Angeles Theatre Works, which included the unusual
task of performing for a live audience, while also recording
the show for radio. And after what Glover says have been
some “hectic and tiring” few weeks, the actor
steps onto the stage again, this time for the Black Dahlia
Theatre's world premiere of Secrets of the Trade.
The play comes from the semi-autobiographical experiences
of writer Jonathon Tolins (Queer as Folk, Martian Child).
Glover plays Martin Kerner, a Broadway big shot (who Glover
characterizes as “a complex mix of Bob Fosse, Hal Prince,
and Jerome Robbins”) who befriends a fan (Bill Brochtrup)
who longs to break into theater. Their 10-year mentorship
is examined, resulting in parallels that Glover says many
actors can relate to.
“I think everybody that is in the theater has some
kind of story of their beginning … what was the show
or event that linked the passion. For me, it was when my
dad brought me to the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey
Circus, when I was about 6 or 7. It was actually the side
show, with the variety show that the little people did, that
caught my attention. And it was when I passed by the area
that was their dressing room, there was a part in the curtains
and I looked in and saw the makeup mirrors and costumes and
dressing room lights, and that's what did it for me,” he
says, laughing. “I don't quite understand why, but
there was something about the excitement of that backstage
part of it that I so vividly remember.”
Aside from the trying-to-break-into-the-business theme, Glover
says it was also the quality of this particular character,
and the many avenues in which he saw potential to stretch
the character's emotions, that attracted him to the play. “It's
a really good part. He's a very powerful man, but as written,
there is a part of him that could be very superficial. I
wanted to explore his complexity. He could be played as just
a villain, but I wanted to ennoble him, give him a point
of view.”
And by all accounts, Glover seems to know a good part when
he reads one. The actor received a Tony Award and mass critical
acclaim in 1995 for his dual role in Terrence McNally's Love!
Valour! Compassion!, not to mention a host of other Drama
Desk and OBIE Awards over the years. Glover also has five
Emmy nominations under his belt for various guest starring
and miniseries work. But put in the perspective of the material
he is working with in Secrets of the Trade, and Glover sees
some of his earliest acting experiences as the greatest indicator
of what was to come.
“In college I apprenticed at a wonderful theater called
the Barter, in Abington, Virginia. The man who created it
and started the theater in the '30s took a bunch of actors
there every summer, and I spent three summers with him and
had a lot of amazing opportunities. My first summer there
I got to play lead in Look Homeward, Angel,” Glover
recounts. “And then one of my first film experiences
was with [director] Fred Zinnemann in Julia, and we became
friends. So I may not have had one particular person, like
a Marty, in my life, but I had these experiences and opportunities.”
And Smallville fans need not worry, Lionel Luther will return
now that the strike is over. Glover says producers have always
been great about allowing him time to do theater, but that
he'll be back to shooting in Canada soon enough. Although
running back and forth between Vancouver and L.A. will make
for a superhero-sized commute.
Secrets of the Trade runs March 12-April 20 at the Black
Dahlia Theatre, 5453 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles. For more
information, visit www.thedahlia.com.
LIMITED RUN
Silver for Gold
(The Odyssey of Edie Sedgwick)
With music by Bauhaus and Love and Rockets musician David
J., this bio-musical is sure to titillate the fan prior to
its off-Broadway run later this fall. The Met Theatre. Thurs.
Mar. 13-Sun. Mar. 16. 8 p.m. $20. 323/960-4442. www.plays411.com.
The Violet Hour
North Hollywood's Theatre Tribe performs Tony Award-winner
(Take Me Out) Richard Greenberg's new play. Theatre Tribe
Studio Theatre. Fri. Mar. 14-Apr. 19. 8 p.m. (Thurs.-Sat.
only) $20. 818/754-2662. www.theatretribe.com.
The All Female 1929 Skidoo Review
The all-female cast is sure to delight in this charming homage
to the Vaudevillian days of yore. Actors Forum Theatre.
Through Apr. 13 (Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m.) $20. 866/811-4111.
www.theatremania.com.
Tracers
The reality and grittiness of war is thrust in your face
thanks to the Gangbuster's Theatre Company. Little Victory
Theatre. Through Apr. 20. (Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m.)
$25. www.gangbusterstheatre.com.
Homo Must
America's Next Top Bottom: Cycle 2
The Celebration Theatre's interactive extravaganza preps
contestants to become the fierce, sassy bottoms. The Celebration
Theatre. Fri. Mar. 14-Sat. Mar. 15. 10:30 p.m. $10. 323/957-1884.
ON STAGE
Flu Season
Circle X Theatre Co. at [Inside] the Ford, through Mar. 29
***
I am much given to precious writing, hence my fondness for
Will Eno's piece in which words are arranged and displayed
with the kind of attention to detail one usually only finds
on a Christopher Lowell show. The story of love with the
walls of a mental institution were almost beside the point
except for the fact the play puts itself through as much
therapy as it puts its characters. As one of the patients,
Jamey Hood embodies a lovely encapsulation of personality
fragmentation and builds a delightfully wry relationship
with her fellow inmate (Tim Wright). The Nurse/Doctor pairing
is engagingly quirky, with Christina Mastin nicely melding
starch and whimsy as Dave Fruechting adroitly edges into
Edward Hermann territory. The device of having Epilogue (scruffily
charming Christopher Goodson) immediately follow Prologue
(the polished Michael McColl) throughout the show with updates
and insights continues to seem clever long after it probably
shouldn't. —WENZEL JONES
Stupid Kids
Celebration Theatre, through Mar. 23
***
It's the zeitgeist of Hair running smack into the attention
span of MTV in John C. Russel's smartly directed (Michael
Matthews) bright and brief paean to youthful alienation.
Social misfits "Kim" (Kelly Schumann) and "Neechee" (Ryan
Spahn), both whom named themselves after personal cultural
icons (Kimberly being Patti Smith's sister and…oh,
figure it out), find themselves in jail with the lovely Judy
(Tessa Thompson) and Jim (Michael Grant Terry), a duo more
accustomed to being Destiny's Darlings than incarcerated.
They get out, of course, but the drama and angst continue
at Joe McCarthy High as the characters in turn misunderstand
and are misunderstood. Spahn is particularly effective when
Neechee attempts to make a connection once he figure's out
he's gay, and his relationship with Schumann feels utterly
natural. Judy and Jim are both afflicted with beauty untroubled
by depth, but Thompson and Terry manage to make the characters
sympathetic nevertheless. Marvin Tunney's choreography lends
contemporary verve to a topic that never seems to reach its
pull date. —W.J.
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