Grey Gardens - meet cast member Dick Reed
What do you find appealing or interesting about your character and this show?
As a grandfather myself, it’s natural
to try to help set my grandchildren on a path to a pleasant and meaningful
future, like Bouvier. For Norman Vincent Peale, the chance to be something of a
televangelist is great fun! At services, my Rabbi sometimes gets me feeling
like NVP and I want to shout out “Hallelujah!,” but I’ve never had the guts to
do so. I brought some of that feeling to this show.
What have you learned
about yourself in playing the role of Bouvier & NVP?
As an actor who has done dozens of roles
in scores of productions I have been wonderfully surprised to learn so much
stagecraft that I had not known. Chris Dykton is an amazing director. I
sincerely hope to do other shows with him – providing there are roles for old
farts like me! It’s so nice to have three surrogate grandchildren in the cast –
and I feel like they ARE my grandchildren. That aspect of Blackjack Bouvier is
easy to play. The martinet father is
tougher – albeit merited in the context of the play -- it is not something I enjoy.
What single word would you
use to describe your character in “Grey Gardens”?
What do you want the
audience to experience/take away from this show?
I hope they have a very enjoyable time
and walk out humming one of the tunes. Nicky McDonnell (who plays Edie) will
break their hearts – both with what she does and, especially, with what she
says in her songs. The lyrics and music are amazing, and she does them every
justice. The cast as a whole is excellent and will present the audience the
story of these two women in a way that will surprise, amuse and inform them.
Their lives were both easy and hard, and this comes across extremely well in
the play.
How does this show differ
from other shows you have worked on?
The main difference is one of production values. I’ve done
more than 100 productions in the DMV area, including lots of shows that have
won awards (I’m especially proud of British Embassy Players award for my King Arthur
in Camelot), and the production of this one is the best I have ever been
around. LTA and this production team have no peers in my 40 years of doing
community theatre. From auditions to the first read-through to each rehearsal,
everyone associated with the production is organized, available, helpful,
understands conflicting schedules and teaches everyone – by word and by deed –
how to be better storytellers. And isn’t that what we’re doing? Telling a story
with songs.
How long have you been
acting and what made you get involved with theatre?
How did you get involved with LTA? I’ve
been doing this for longer than half the cast has been alive (40 years)! My first
theatrical role was to have been playing Hoss Cartwright in 1963 during the
“Bonanza” era. Tragically, President Kennedy was assassinated on the day we
were to open. Of course the show was cancelled. It was a lot of years later
when I was working at the Naval Research Lab and my co-workers talked me into a
show, “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” I was hooked and have done one or more
shows a year ever since. LTA has always seemed out of my reach. The production
schedule was too ambitious for me while I was working. Now that I’m retired and
have more time, and LTA wanted a baritone/tenor aged 65-80, it was right in my
wheelhouse. I auditioned and was lucky enough to get the role. I’ll be back!
What advice would you give
others who are interested in working in theatre?
Go for it! Really, that’s all there is
to it. Everyone can sing and dance – honest! – it’s just up to the director and
choreographer to use them properly. So many people are afraid to do either in
front of an audience. The rewards are fabulous. Simply fabulous. Start small,
if that’s easier, and then build. While there are truly amazingly talented
people around, most of us are just folks who have learned to like singing and
dancing on stage. It is truly addictive!
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