DramaUrge:  Your shows at the Bay Theatre Company were excellent when you were co-artistic director and are excellent now, though of late I keep wondering how you can top the last one ... and you do!  How do you view your programming and direction as a company and do you have plans for future expansion?

Janet Luby:  I want to have a season of plays that will appeal to the less experienced theatergoers - the people who just want to be entertained - and the others who I call advanced theater people who expect and want more of a thought-provoking experience. I think this year we had two plays in each category.

I would love to expand.  We are working on that one with a new board of directors and a new group called the Designers Circle.  The bottom line is people and money.  With an increase in both of those, we will grow.

DU:  I know you relocated to this area from the Midwest - specifically Minneapolis - and have worked in San Francisco and New York.  Do you see differences in the way theaters operate in various parts of the country?

JL:  I think theaters can take more risks in San Francisco and New York.  I haven't lived and worked in the Midwest for a while, but Minneapolis is a pretty sophisticated city.  There is definitely more of an understanding of the power of theater in those cities.  Annapolis has never had a professional theater so we are all learning together on what works for us.

DU:  What did Director Richard Pilcher tell the cast and creative team during the first read-through of Beyond Therapy?

JL:  He talked a lot about the "Durang Universe" and how it's really not that different from real life.  We shared a lot of personal stories about situations that were far weirder that anything in Beyond Therapy. A friend of mine was on a blind date with a guy who liked to cross dress and he justified his position by saying that something like 75% of men are secret cross dressers [!!].  She tried to go with it but couldn't. Just like Prudence [played by Mundy Spears].  The play is really not that "out there" compared to the quirks of every day life.

DU:  How you see your character?  How did you prepare for the role?

JL:  I see Charlotte as totally honest and logical in her mind.  I thought of people who were very much like her.  For instance, my mother would always say stuff like "go out to the refrigerator and get the mail" and if I corrected her it was like "oh, please you know what I mean" - very insignificant in the scheme of things.  For Charlotte, language gets in the way of what she really means.  But she can rattle off the important stuff like Chekhov with no problem whatsoever.

DU:  When you are performing, what type of rituals do you employ:  Do you zone out or get engaged with cast and crew? 

JL:  I engage very much with the cast and crew right up until about three minutes before I enter the stage.  Some actors have to be left alone for practically the whole time and others are telling jokes right up until they say their first line.  There really isn't a ritual.  I can't keep my hands off the box office stuff and I can hear from the dressing room if there is a mistake with an audience member's seat, etc.  Not a very good warm up!

DU:  There is usually a break from the last weekend matinee to the first weekday evening.  How do you prepare for a performance following the Sunday - Thursday layover?

JL:  We try to have a line through, i.e., the actors sitting in a circle doing a speed reading of just the lines with no movement.  If schedules are an issue, you can sometimes do it over the phone.

DU:  From an actor's perspective, how do you see shows change over the course of a run?

JL:  It feels like a totally different show from opening night to closing night.  Nerves are high of course and there's the insecurity of not knowing how it will go over with the audience.  It usually gets better and shorter.  Towards the end, it's a little bittersweet because you know the experience is going to be gone forever.

DU:  Do you read reviews during a run?  How do you handle criticism, negative and positive?

JL:  Usually I do.  There was one this year that someone gave me a heads-up that it was pretty bad and I refused to read it.  I still haven't. It's hard to not know though because everyone at the theatre talks about it from the actors to the ushers.  It's also REALLY fun to get a great one so it charges everyone up!

DU:  I see from his bio that Richard is a practitioner of the Alexander technique.  Do you yourself adhere to any program for movement?

JL:  I went to grad school at ACT - American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.  They were very into Alexander and Yoga.  The Alexander is quite an amazing technique.  I didn't have much chance to talk to Richard about it because we were pretty tight on time, but we're planning to meet for coffee soon and I will talk about that for sure - he probably knows my teacher!

DU:  What's up next for you in your theater career?  Are there any roles on your performance wish list?

JL:  Yes.  More from Moliere, (Toinette in Imaginary Invalid) and some of the interesting characters from Chekhov, Mamet, Miller.....

Thanks Janet for your insights into both the practical and creative elements of the artistic process.  We all look forward to seeing your current show, which is extended to March 20, and getting Beyond Therapy!

John F. Glass - February 19, 2011