BWW INTERVIEWS: Lane Wright, A Life in the Theatre

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Nashville native Lane Wright has long been a mainstay on local stages, performing for virtually every Music City-based theatre company in a wide variety of roles. During this holiday season, he's been entertaining audiences at the Darkhorse Theatre as one of playwright/director Bob O'Connell's cowboys in Christmas on the Pecos, concluding its world premiere run this weekend. Coming fresh off his run as a communist spy in the Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre production of See How They Run, which came right after his performance in Boiler Room Theatre's production of Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile - it's clear that he's one Nashville actor who always seems to be working.

So what does Lane Wright do when he's not working? Seems to me like he's always at the theatre. If there's a show opening somewhere around town, you can be certain that on his own nights off, Lane is sitting out there in the dark, reveling in the magic of live theatre while lending support to his countless actor/director/techie friends who are plying their trade and pursuing their creative dreams in Nashville.

Easily, he's one of the most respected - and I daresay "well-liked" - actors working in Nashville and he recently took some time to answer our questions for this week's installment of "A Life in the Theatre."

What was your first taste of theatre?

Growing up here in Nashville, the first theatre I remember seeing was at Nashville Children's Theatre in the early '60s. Our family was friends with one of the women who played Trouper the Clown, the theatre's mascot in those days, and it was fun to have that connection to the theatre. I can't remember any individual shows, but I remember it always being exciting to ride a bus from school to NCT and then see whatever play was being presented for us. NCT really is a treasure, and I'm glad it's still here introducing children to the magic of theatre.

What was your first real job or responsibility in the theatre?

I did theatre all through college and graduate school, but my first paying acting job was for the University of Illinois Summer Rep in Champaign/Urbana in 1980. I was the only person in the Rep who wasn't either a student or graduate of the university, and I played three smallish roles, the biggest being Uncle Willie in The Philadelphia Story. (Yes, at 23 I was playing a 62-year-old man in a fat suit.) Incidentally, my second paying job was at NCT that fall in George M. Cohan's The Tavern, which was a thrill after seeing so many shows there as a kid.

When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in theatre?

I honestly can't remember when I didn't want to pursue a career in theatre. As far back as I can remember, it's a desire that's always been there. And in the face of all that's rational, it's still there.

Why do you pursue your art in Nashville? What are the best parts of working here?

Growing up and wanting to be a professional actor, I couldn't wait to get out of Nashville and live in a "real theatre town," as I probably would have put it then. But even though I have worked in other places, circumstances have kept me in Nashville, and now I find, whether due to getting older or just disliking the inconvenience of the itinerant life, that I'm quite happy working here (though I wish there was more work available, particularly during the occasional dry spells). The best part of working in Nashville is the number of immensely talented people I've had the opportunity to work with here. And there are talented actors, directors, etc. in every theatre group in this city, whether Equity, non-Equity, or non-professional. As far as I'm concerned, being an Equity actor doesn't make one more talented than one who is non-Equity or even working for no pay at all. It's all about the quality of the work, and I've seen work of superior quality on every kind of stage in Nashville.

If you could play any role, direct any work, design any production, mount any production...what would it be and why?

There are plenty of roles I would love to play, some of which I'm now sadly past the right age for. But I would still love to play Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey, just because I think he's a lovely character whose shoes I would be happy to fill for a couple of hours. As a director, I've got a few plays on my wish list, many of them less well-known, such as Mark Medoff's The Wager and Donald Margulies' Sight Unseen. And I would love for some theatre company to mount a production of William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life, a classic American play that deserves to be seen again.

Who would play you in the film version of your life story?

My first instinct is to say John Lithgow, though since he's older than I am it probably wouldn't work.

What's your favorite play/musical?

Oddly enough, it's easier to pick a favorite musical than to pick a favorite play. My favorite musical is The Music Man, for no particular reason except that I've always loved it. (I do also hold a special place in my heart for Sunday in the Park with George, which I think is probably the greatest musical of the 20th century.) For favorite play it's harder to choose because I love so many of them, particularly ones I've either been in or directed, including You Can't Take It with You, The Dining Room, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Burn This, The Heidi Chronicles, The Baltimore Waltz, and The Odd Couple. Among plays I've never done, Talley's Folly and Seascape are pretty far up there.

If you could have dinner with any three figures (living or dead, real or fictional) who are a part of the theatre, who would you choose and why?

I'm going to go with the living and say Stephen Sondheim, since he's the greatest composer/lyricist of the American musical theatre; Neil Simon, since he's the most popular playwright of the past 50 years; and Mike Nichols, who has directed some of the great plays of the past several decades. The stories those three men could tell would be incredible to hear.

Imagine a young person seeing you onstage or seeing a production in which you played a major role coming up to you and asking you for advice in pursuing their own theatrical dream...what would you say?

I'd tell them to do as much theatre as possible and soak up as much as they can from the experiences they have. I learn from just about every show I'm a part of. There is no better way to learn about theatre than doing theatre. Of course, they should pursue training and take classes and all that, but it's the actual doing of theatre that is the best education of all.

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