Interview: Theatre Life with Susan Lynskey

Today's subject is currently living her theatre life in one of the more important plays of the season. The immensely talented Susan Lynskey can be seen through February 19th in Roe at Arena Stage where she portrays, among other characters, Linda Coffee who was one of the lawyers in the historic Roe v. Wade case.

This is not Susan's first time at Arena Stage. She previously appeared in Noises Off, Proof, Well, Born Yesterday, Book of Days, Intimations for Saxophone, and The Importance of Being Earnest. She is a proud new Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) Company Member who premiered in Roe, Richard II, Play On and Black Swan Lab. Select regional and area credits include Hostage at Center Stage; Citizen13559 at Kennedy Center; Lisa Loomer's Living Out at Round House Theatre; The 39 Steps and The Laramie Project at Olney Theatre Center (where she is an associate artist); Intimate Apparel at African Continuum; Ghost-Writer, The Letters and The Girl in the Goldfish Bowl at MetroStage; The BFG at National Theatre; The Cripple of Inishmaan at Studio Theatre; and The Sisters Rosenzweig at Theater J. Some recent film/TV credits include episodes of Turn and The Wire. Susan is a Georgetown University professor and the recipient of multiple Helen Hayes nominations and awards for her long and outstanding body of work.

Susan Lynskey is one of those quirky character types who is great in everything she does. If it's a light comedy like The Sisters Rosenzweig or Noises Off, Susan is warm and funny. If the assignment is to play multiple characters in The Laramie Project, Susan makes every one of them distinct.

In Roe, Susan takes on Linda Coffee, one of those who changed the course of a women's right to choose in this country. It's one of those shows I urge you all to see and Susan's portrayals are a big reason for this. Roe is an important play, and having just the right performer in the right role - or in this case roles - helps to make the show that much more successful.

Check out Susan Lynskey and her terrific castmates in Roe at Arena Stage. You'll see why she has been working around town for many years and is considered one of our finest actresses. So much love for a wonderful actress. Susan Lynskey, keep doing what you do. We are very appreciative.

At what age were you first exposed to live theatre? Do you remember what the show was and what your thoughts were about it?

I was very lucky in that I have wonderful parents who exposed me to the arts at a young age and that my schools also loved plays. The teachers nurtured theatre-making and I can remember creative play being a large part of the learning. My parents took me to community and professional theatre from the very beginning-be it a dramatic reading at the library where my mom worked; or a production at the Paper Mill Playhouse, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival; or bridge and tunnel trips into New York City to see a Broadway show. I loved them all! I was a creative kid with a large imagination, but a quiet bookish demeanor, and no siblings to distract, so I was quite often making up entire productions on my own. A playwright-director-actor who created huge ensemble-driven productions with a cast of stuffed animals. Later, I enlisted the neighbors' kids and any of my willing classmates. I would devise, direct, and/or step into a part as needed. By the 3rd grade, I had somehow formed a little rag-tag theatre troupe. We adapted fairytales and Greek myths and wrote dramas and musicals during recess. And if we wrote and performed our plays for the "underclassmen" (aka the kindergarteners), we found could often get out of gym - so we were quite the prolific performers.

Can you please tell us a little something about the play Roe and your character?

Roe is a groundbreaking new play written by Lisa Loomer and commissioned by American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. As Lisa says it is "a prism for looking at our national divide."

I play Linda Coffee the co-counsel who prepared the Supreme Court Case with Sarah Weddington. She is an amazing and brilliant woman. Born in Texas in 1942, "Shy but plucky" is what the few existing materials say about her. She shied from the spotlight of Roe v. Wade, but masterminded the case. She understood that Texas state abortion laws violated due process in the 14th Amendment. 'Liberty' according to the Constitution includes the right to make a choice about your own body. Coffee also recognized the Texas abortion statues violated the 1st,4th,5th,8th,9th, and 14th Amendments as they infringed on "the fundamental right of all women to choose whether to bear children." She filed the case in the Dallas courthouse with Henry Wade, the Dallas District Attorney, as the defendant. Coffee and Weddington agreed that Weddington would deliver their oral argument in Court since Sarah liked the public side trial-lawyering as much as Linda didn't. After the nation-changing Roe victory, Linda went back to bankruptcy law and rarely mentioned her involvement in Roe. Some sources researched claim she didn't even list Roe on her resume. What was important to Linda was that Roe was the law of the land not that she herself received glory for writing the case.

I feel so honored to play her in this play. For Linda and for all the smart brainy women who always do all the homework, never get the credit they deserve, and believe that doing something of magnitude on behalf of others is the great work. For all those women (according to Lisa's great line in the play) "who have cats."

Acting in Roe is true characterization elation, as I and the other company members each play four to seven roles. Mine include: Judy (a feminist activist), Eleanor Smeal (twice-President of NOW), Peggy (a Christian news reporter), a member of the Free Methodist Church, a Pro-Life woman, and a pregnant woman who seeks out Norma McCorvey and her clinic. The precision and the sheer range of characters are a tour-de-force for the acting company.

How closely does Roe follow the actual events of the landmark Roe v. Wade case? Diligently. Both the case in 1971 and when it was reargued in 1972-73. It was a landmark case in Texas wherein a pregnant woman seeking an abortion ('Roe' aka Norma McCorvey) became the plaintiff to challenge the Texas anti-abortion law. Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee were her lawyers who argued her case.

Lisa Loomer worked with such diligence sourcing autobiographies and historical research writing the play. The production even sources the voices from the Supreme Court Justices from the actual trial tapes. In fact, Justice Potter Stewart and Justice Thurgood Marshall garner some hearty smart laughs from the audience (especially here in Washington). The case centers on the 9th and 14th Amendments: the right to Privacy and Liberty protections for women under the Constitution.

Lisa Loomer our amazing playwright was clear when commissioned by American Revolutions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival that she "did not want to just write a courtroom drama." The play is about the women in relationship to the case, yes, but truly about the women themselves in relationship to each other, their worlds and world-views, and the forging of their unique and interwoven identities. It is a play that examines Roe v. Wade to expose history's subjectivity.

Can you talk about the importance Roe has as a play in today's uncertain political climate?

It is so incredibly important. This play is right here, right now. This play and its central conversation are at the crux of our national debate and divide. The play illustrates how Roe hangs in the balance of the Supreme Court appointee decision. This was true in the 1970's with two new-to-the-court-Nixon nominees; true in the 80's with Reagan's declaration that "over his dead body would he appoint a Pro-Choice judge to the Court;" and true in the 90s in response to Clarence Thomas when thousands of women marched on Washington to be seen and heard standing for reproductive justice. It's also true now again in 2017 as the Court stands in wait for it's next appointee. 300 state restrictions have been carried out against Roe in just the last five years, and the new President is about to begin his selection process...Roe once again hangs in the balance.

All this said, Roe is not a play that vilifies a Pro-Life or a Pro-Choice position. It does not 'take sides,' but rather shows a spectrum of experience and belief. It unfolds the history of the case and the complex lives of the women at the center of this complex debate. It is why actually I went to Oregon and changed my life to be a part of making this play - because of its compassion.

You are on staff at Georgetown University. Was becoming an academic part of your plan work-wise? Did you think that you would be able to act full-time and teaching would just be a side gig between shows?

It's true. I have been serving on the Faculty of the Theatre and Performance Studies Program at Georgetown University for twelve years. I've always been a brainy bluestocking who loved reading and diagramming sentences so 'a life-learner and active artist who teaches' is not a surprise life path to me. I love teaching and do not ever see it as a side gig or a "those who can't do..." kind of job. In fact, teaching just like acting is more of a vocation than occupation. In my view, it's a means of giving back and deepening the craft. I believe the best teachers are those who both create and teach what that love and actually live. How better to inspire students and to mentor honestly than with a real-world active practice? I can share with students the lived joys and the sacrifices of the actors' life; share with them working techniques; and a love for the history and the legacy from a lived perspective.

You have worked in the big three entertainment mediums (theatre/film/television). Does one give you more pleasure than the others or are they all equally as enjoyable?

The theatre is my heart because it is 'live.' There is an actual human exchange, in real time, between the actors and the audience and amongst the audience itself. In this ever more insular, self-selecting world, joining together in a theatre to experience a play is one of the rare communal experiences of this kind we have left.

You have many kinds of theatrical roles on your resume except for any kind of musical. Have you ever wanted to perform in a musical and not been presented with a chance to or is this a conscious decision?

Have you heard me sing? In truth, I'm not all that terrible a singer-I'm just a bit shy about it. I can carry a tune and blend in a group. I just wouldn't ever personally volunteer to be out in front.

I have actually been in a few musicals here in DC, two at the Kennedy Center and one at Signature Theatre and have exceptional memories of each of them. There's something so joyous about being in a musical. The people, the songs, and the nightly understanding of the power of music. At Signature, I was cast as the wiseacre non-singing sister of the protagonist in The Gospel According to Fishman. Perfect. Lots of funny lines, non-verbal jokes, and no solo songs. Perfect. And there I am in the finale number standing in this heaven-reaching choir with the amazing E. Faye Butler and Flo Lacey on either side of me. [It was] hilarious as I look back as I used to sing really (really) softly like "so sotto voce" so as not to (in my mind) "mess up the finale for everyone." And E. Faye and Flo would catch me almost lip synching the song and as we took our bows before the reprise, they would squeeze my hands and whisper, "Sing Out Susan-Louise!" Ironically the final song was titled "Find Your Own Voice." It makes me smile whenever I think about it. It's a musical memory I absolutely treasure.

Can you please pick a few of your most favorite roles?

I think as actors we often fall in love with every part we play as we work with such rigor and such joy to embody the truth of the character; they are often difficult not to love. I know I can only name a few here, but each of these holds a special place for me and in my body of work.

Of course, Linda Coffee in Roe... I might also name Iris in The Girl in the Goldfishbowl, Myra in Ghost-Writer, Girleen in The Lonesome West, Mrs. Van Buren in Intimate Apparel, Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest, Claire in Proof, Jackie in Hay Fever, Poppy in Noises Off, The Woman in Scotland Road, The Queen in The BFG, and Helen in The Cripple Of Innishmaan.

'Favorites' emerge for different reasons. Sometimes it's the character's journey itself; often it's the rehearsals of the role with the director so intimately moment to moment, or the nimble interplay with a scene partner onstage who shapes the experience, and always for me it's the playwright's words that distinguishes a role a 'favorite.'

What does 2017 hold in store for you after Roe closes?

Well, Roe is not over yet. (Onstage or off). After Arena Stage, the Company will travel to Berkeley Rep and perform the work there.

It is such an important work, it is our hope that we will continue to share the story nationally and even internationally. A number of artistic directors from across the country saw the work in Ashland and are now coming to DC with the intention of discussing Roe at their home theatres for possible inclusion in their respective seasons. So, there's exciting potential there. Performing in Texas where the court case began and where challenges to Roe are ongoing would be very important. A Canadian audience member in a talk-back I led pointed out the import of bringing this work to Canada because America's political climate has historically had an influence there. And then there's the dream of New York. Sweat, Party People, All The Way - each one of these amazing plays was indeed an OSF commission and created-work. Each has gone on to play The Public Theater and/or Broadway. So, I hold that potential alive in my heart. We all do.

I would also be proud to tell this story globally. Millions of people marched in the streets all over the world this January; there's a global attention focused now (again) on women's reproductive rights and this play does what the political arguments do not often do: it hosts a compassionate conversation and a space for a spectrum of belief and experience. It reflects and reveals our Herstory.

Special Thanks to Arena Stage's publicist Lauren Alexander for her assistance in coordinating this interview.

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