More than a half a century of theater-going in the Old Pueblo has taught me this:
Tucson is packed with talent.
In our town, we have actors who find laughter in tragedies and tears in comedies, and often give us great joy and fresh insight when we see them on stage.
We think all of Tucson should get a taste of that talent, so we created Star Actors, a series of videos we’ve made with some of those memorable actors performing a monologue. A few of those we’ve filmed no longer perform, others do it rarely, and some are still active on the stage. But they all have this in common: They can take a character, slip into its skin, and transform us to another time, another place, another state of mind.
Meet the performers in our series we call Star Actors. Then check out their videos at tucson.com/video.
Francesca Jarvis has had a fat film and television career, and has lit up many Tucson stages over the years. The 83-year-old was devastated by West Nile disease about a decade ago and no longer performs. Nevertheless, her powerful voice continues to pull you in and keep you there.
Background: Jarvis attended the prestigious Goodman School of Drama in Chicago (now part of DePaul University), which launched the careers of such actors as Linda Hunt, Sam Wanamaker, Karl Malden and Shelley Berman. She performed on the stage in New York City before she moved here with her husband and children in 1958. She jumped into community theater, and then was “discovered” in 1963, when she was cast in the Sidney Poitier film “Lilies of the Field.” More movies, television and commercials followed. But celluloid was not where her heart was. “I’ve been in 25 films and 65 plays,” she says. “I prefer stage.”
Her monologue: Jarvis performs a scene from “Henry VI, Part 3.” In it, the king has just disinherited his son, and his wife, Margaret, angrily confronts him. “It shows my strength,” says Jarvis. “I like strong women, and Margaret was so strong and so angry, yet there was a vulnerability there that I hope comes through. … I love the music of Shakespeare, and the language of Shakespeare is so wonderful, and this particular scene gives all of that.”
Roberta Streicher, now 88, no longer acts. And she is missed: Her comedic sense is pristine, and her possession of her characters is complete.
Background: Streicher also studied at the Goodman School, a move that greatly disappointed her physician father, who expected her to become a doctor. She intended to do what he wanted, but from her first whiff of acting in high school, she became passionate about the art. And as far as she’s concerned, she does the same kind of work as a doctor. “I see every actor I admire as a great healer,” she says. “I’ve seen it in the audience’s’ faces.”
Streicher had an almost-two-decades-long stage and TV career in New York City, including a stint as a regular character on the soap “The Secret Storm.” That went off the air in 1974, the year she moved to Tucson with her son Eric. Here, she settled into a clerical job at Pima Community College and did some stage acting, but decided to abandon acting when she was about 63. Twenty years later, in 2004, she jumped back into it with a vengeance, lighting up the stage primarily at Live Theatre Workshop. Her portrayal of such characters as the mean-spirited Grandma Kurnitz in Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers” (Live Theatre, 2009) still is vivid in our memories. “I was really burning in that one,” Streicher says with a grin. “I loved playing someone who wasn’t very nice. And I adored her — she was such a monster.” Streicher retired permanently from the stage in 2010.
Her monologue: Streicher performs Shakespeare’s 29th sonnet. “Of all his sonnets, this one touches me most,” she says. It reminds her of her father’s disapproval of her chosen profession — he didn’t speak to her for two years after she left home to act. “When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes ... ,” she says, reciting the opening line of the piece. “That sonnet speaks to me very deeply.” While that’s a sad memory, it is quickly replaced by a happy one. “He came to see me in a play I did in New York many years later,” she says of her father. “He said, ‘You know, Socks — that was his nickname for me — I’ve been wrong. Of all my children, you’re the one with guts. And I admire you.’ That was better than an Oscar.”
Howard Allen (no relation to this writer) rarely acts anymore; the award-winning writer has his hands full running Scriptdoctor.com, a consulting business, and the Institute for Collaborative Storytelling, which helps develop scripts. He does find time to direct on occasion, and he is gifted in that area. But it has been his acting that is burned in our memory. In the 1980s, he performed in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at a now-closed dinner theater. Those who saw it still giggle at the memory.
Background: Allen started out studying acting at the University of Arizona, but marriage and children convinced him he needed to be on steadier ground, so he switched his major to journalism. Still, he couldn’t leave theater behind: He returned to the UA to get his MFA, concentrating on playwriting, screenwriting and criticism. For years, he was editor and an award-winning theater critic for the Tucson Weekly, but once he left that job, he again dabbled in acting. These days, he concentrates on writing —and helping other writers. But it took little convincing when we asked him to do a monologue for us.
His monologue: Allen long ago performed the role of the Duke of York, the king’s uncle, in Shakespeare’s “Richard II” and it stuck with him. “I’ve been in love with Shakespeare ever since,” he says. In the monologue, the king has decided to seize the lands of a loyal subject who has died in order to finance an attack on Ireland, cutting out the rightful heir. The duke protests passionately. “Any opportunity to do Shakespeare is a great thing,” says Allen.
Carley Elizabeth Preston is no stranger to the stage here. The UA theater graduate has performed for a number of companies. While she earns her bread and butter working in administration at Arizona Theatre Company, acting is her passion. “I love storytelling, and I love getting into the shoes of someone else because it teaches me something about myself,” she says. “And I absolutely crave the synergy between actors and the audience.”
Background: Preston deftly handles comedy and drama, and has a presence that practically lights up the stage. In 2014, her portrayal of the blind woman who regains her sight after surgery in Live Theatre’s “Molly Sweeney” still resonates, and her keen comedic chops and grasp of character popped on the stage in 2013 with Arizona Onstage Productions’ “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress.” “Earlier in my career, I gravitated more toward the sassy, strong or bitchy characters,” Preston says. “But now I look for characters that have something I haven’t done, or something in their world that’s new to me so that it’s a challenge to do.”
Her monologue: Preston’s piece is from “The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe” by Jane Wagner. She performed the one-woman show at Live Theatre Workshop in 2013. “While doing this show, this piece always moved me,” she says of the excerpt where the aliens discuss theater, and especially the audience, which they saw as the real art. “By the end, I was always in tears — and goosebumps.”
What’s next: Preston will be performing in Something Something Theatre’s production of David Mamet’s “Boston Marriage,” opening Dec. 1.
Keith Wick has never disappointed when he is on stage. Which isn’t surprising: The graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in California has been acting close to 40 years. “I went to school and focused on theater and my plan was to continue with theater,” he says. “But life took over and I kind of decided I wanted to know where my next paycheck was coming from.” His days are spent working in human resources for a school district, but his evenings are often spent with his first love: acting.
Background: Wick, a regular on the Live Theatre Workshop stage, figures he has done more than 100 plays. While he is a natural comedic actor, he embraces drama as well. As the creepy pedophile in Paula Vogel’s “How I Learned to Drive” at Live Theatre in 2011, he managed to find the humanity in the character, and his frenzied turn in Live Theatre’s 2010 production of Marc Camoletti’s farce “Don’t Dress for Dinner” kept the audience rolling with laughter. If Wick’s name is on the marquee, expect excellence.
His monologue: Wick performs David Mamet’s “A Sermon,” a deliciously absurdist piece written as a companion to Mamet’s “Sexual Perversity in Chicago.” Wick fell in love with it years ago, and this is what he performs when he auditions.
What’s next: Wick takes on the role of an unemployed actor who works as a shopkeeper in the basement of Barbra Streisand’s Malibu home in Jonathan Tolins’ one-man piece, “Buyer & Cellar.” You can catch it at Live Theatre in January.
u Roberto Garcia studied theater at the University of Arizona, but found another passion: He is a public defender with the city of Tucson. He continues to perform on stage every few years. “I’ve got to keep the juices flowing,” he says.
Background: Garcia has worked primarily with Borderlands Theater. We first saw him there in the 1991 production of “Latins Anonymous,” and it was clear he had talent. The more he acted, the better he became. We were transfixed last year when he portrayed the role of the dirt underneath the Tucson Convention Center in Borderlands’ “Barrio Stories,” a site-specific piece that resurrected the history and lives in Barrio Viejo, which was destroyed for the center. Also last year, Garcia played the father in Borderlands production of Victor Hugo Rascón Banda’s “Absence/El Ausente,” about a family struggling with the realization that the son who fled to the States is no longer living. The play alternated performances in English and Spanish. In the Spanish version, Garcia’s performance as the tortured father longing for his son’s return after he crossed the border into the U.S. was transcendent.
His monologue: Garcia chose a piece from “Absence/El Ausente” and performs it in Spanish. “It was one of my most challenging roles because of the alternating performances,” says Garcia. The scene he recreates was touching in English; in Spanish, the original language of the play, and in Garcia’s hands, the hope, grief and passion of the character come through in a much more profound way.
What’s next: Garcia has nothing planned for the next season, but returning to the stage is definitely in the future.
Kathryn Kellner demands that attention be paid when she is on stage. The actress had taken a 17-year hiatus from stage work, but returned a few years back. We are the lucky ones.
Background: Kellner received her BFA from the University of Arizona, with acting and directing as her emphasis. Our earliest memory of her is a 1990 performance in Invisible Theatre’s production of Cindy Lou Johnson’s “Brilliant Traces.” We knew we were watching an actress with serious talent. After the ‘90s, Kellner, who teaches communication strategies and presentation skills for several organizations in town, stepped back from the stage. Then, in 2011, she came back. She has appeared in several productions at The Rogue Theatre. She elevates nearly every production she’s in. We loved her in The Rogue’s 2012 staging of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale,” were transfixed by her in 2014’s “Arcadia” by Tom Stoppard, and became complete fans when she played the mother in last season’s “Hamlet” at the Rogue. “Acting is my passion; this is what I want to be doing,” says Kellner. “I think I was meant to do it. I love my consulting work, but becoming a character and telling stories is where my heart lives.”
Her monologue: Kellner selected a piece from the farce “Say Who You Are” by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall. The character is about to embark on an affair, and is telling a friend about her husband’s infidelity. “It’s just fun and light, and it’s a comedy,” she says.
What’s next: Kellner has been auditioning in Tucson and around the country. She hopes to return to the stage in a much bigger way next season.
Lesley Abrams has loved acting all her life. She studied it at Northwestern University, and has been a regular on Tucson stages. She also loves her faith, and these days the pulpit is a more frequent stage for her — she is the pastor at St John on the Desert Presbyterian Church. But she hasn’t forsaken theater.
Background: Abrams and her husband, Dean Steeves, moved to the Old Pueblo nearly two decades ago. Together they did improvisational comedy, but Abrams also dove into Tucson theater. A first memory of her is playing the curmudgeoness Ouiser in a 2001 production of Robert Harling’s “Steel Magnolias” at Arizona Repertory Theatre. We were hooked. Since then, Abrams has killed it in such plays as “Noises Off” (‘04), “Frozen” (‘05), and “Doubt” in ‘07. But it was her role as Martha in Winding Road Theatre Ensemble’s 2012 production of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” that convinced us we should never miss a play she’s in. Though she now has a full-time career with her church, she won’t ever leave acting behind — the two work together. “Great theatre illuminates for me the brokenness and vulnerability of humanity,” she says. “My faith teaches me how to heal it.”
Her monologue: She returned to “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” for her monologue. “Martha was my favorite role I’ve ever played,” she says. “When I was younger, it’s the role I aspired to.”
What’s next: Abrams will star in David Rambo’s one-woman show, “The Lady With All the Answers,” about advice columnist Ann Landers, opening July 14 at Live Theatre.
Matt Bowdren studied theater at the UA, then took his talent to Athens, Georgia, where he earned his MFA at the University of Georgia. Returning to Tucson is one of the best things he could have done for us.
Background: Bowdren is a member of The Rogue’s ensemble of actors, and is involved in nearly every production. We first saw him there in 2008, where he gave big heart to a small role in Edward Albee’s “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?” He was chilling in his role as the calculating detective in Now Theatre’s “The Pillowman” in 2011, and he was engrossing as Super Toad in The Rogue’s 2013 staging of “After the Quake.” But his turn as the title character in “Hamlet” convinced us of Bowdren’s maturity and chops as an actor. He has found his calling. “It allows people to reflect with a good story,” says Bowdren about theater. “Giving people a chance to reflect on life is a wonderful gift.”
His monologue: Bowdren recreated a piece from “Hamlet,” which he performed at The Rogue late last year. “There is a simplicity in that speech,” he says. “A man is just realizing that maybe he doesn’t belong, that he’s not like everybody else, and he doesn’t know why. It’s a moment full of poetry, but gets directly to questions about who we are and why we are here.”
What’s next: Next season, Bowdren will be directing “Angels in America” and “Macbeth,” both at The Rogue.
