It's Miller time It's Miller time (March 05, 2004)

TheatreWorks stages war-weighted 'All My Sons'

by Julie O'Shea

"A ll My Sons" -- a harrowing family drama about a father's devastating wartime secret -- is one of those rare shows that can get under your skin and make you shiver.

Actress Carla Spindt will even go as far as to call Arthur Miller's 1947 epic one of the best scripts ever written.

"This is the most carefully crafted play I have ever worked on," said Spindt, a Mountain View native who returns to her hometown area to take on the role of Kate, the dedicated mother and wife in "All My Sons."

TheatreWorks will open the production on Saturday at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto.

"Having worked on this play makes me want to read (Miller's) other plays because I think I missed something," said Spindt, who is making her TheatreWorks debut.

"I think it's one of those plays, like Shakespeare, that any generation can relate to. It's an American play."

The story opens on a late summer day, two years after the end of World War II. The past is impossible to escape for the Keller family, left to cope with the mysterious disappearance of eldest son Larry, reported missing and presumed dead after his plane crashed during a combat mission three and a half years earlier.

More intriguing is the troubling, deep secret Joe Keller, an airplane parts manufacturer and the Keller patriarch, has kept locked away for years -- a secret so gut-wrenching, it threatens the very core of his existence: His family.

The premise is based on an old case Miller read about a tank manufacturer who knowingly shipped out defective parts, which resulted in the deaths of dozen of American soldiers during World War I.

"I think he was ahead of his time," Spindt said. "We get emotionally involved ... He makes us think of the way we are functioning in this world."

That was one of the reasons TheatreWorks Artistic Director Robert Kelley decided to stage the play, which he first read in college and immediately fell in love with.

"It's a tremendously emotional family drama -- you gradually come to realize an insulated family really represents America as a whole -- you really can't hide in your backyard. We are all part of the bigger picture of humanity. I think that was extremely relevant in 1947, but in our era of global communication and influence, it's even more important."

Kelley first wanted to stage "All My Sons" two years ago, but it got bumped out of the schedule, in favor of "The Syringa Tree." But last February seemed like the right time to re-insert Miller's classic play into the line-up, with America still reeling from 9/11, disgraced by corporate scandals and on the brink of war.

"I just found that what it had to say seemed particularly relevant to America now," Kelley said. "It's easy to see, I think, in our era, a wavering in America's commitment to the idea of personal responsibility, and we seem to be surrounded by many issues of integrity, to the point where you wonder whether it needs reinforcing as a fundamental American value. And this play addresses that directly."

Will Marchetti, a TheatreWorks veteran, will play Spindt's husband, Joe. The two actors have worked together numerous times before, creating a natural chemistry in their current pairing.

"Will Marchetti -- we already have a relationship," Spindt said with a laugh, explaining how she's played both his wife and lover onstage.

Kelley also endorsed the casting.

"They make a very intriguing couple," he said. "They have the ability to create the kind of intimacy and deep relationship seen in a couple that's been together for years. It's remarkable."

Kelley also spoke of the play's rich roles for both Spindt and Marchetti.

"Joe is a man who's had to make choices. He's grappling with what to do when the choices aren't right. Do you hide? Do you take responsibility? What do you put first: Your family? The family of others?

"And Kate is a complicated character who is holding a family together that might otherwise be falling apart, because of the deep secrets. She manages to keep them intact, but her world is beginning to unravel. It's a wonderful role -- it's rich and complicated and requires a huge amount of strength, but also a fragility that's beginning to work its way to the surface."

Director Kent Nicholson has not updated the 57-year-old script, but both he and set designer Andrea Bechert have taken creative license with the show's set. The Kellers' house is shown as a flimsy structure, with pieces missing from the facade and roof, and a transparent interior -- something audiences in the late '40s, an era of "rigid realism" would never have seen, Kelley said.

"The set represents this family and what's gnawing at their souls," Kelley said. "I think it immediately asks you to consider what's inside, rather than what's on the surface."

Though "All My Sons" may be a 57-year-old play, it still resonates clearly with Kelley.

"It's fascinating," he said. "And it's fascinating for me to watch a play that's a half-century old be magical and engrossing for an audience. But in a lot of ways, it's the quintessential American play -- it's about who we are and what we stand for."
Robyn Israel contributed to this story.

What: TheatreWorks presents "All My Sons" by Arthur Miller

Where: Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto

When: The show will preview tonight at 8 p.m. It officially opens on Saturday at 8 p.m. Show times are Tuesdays (March 9 and 16) at 7:30 p.m.; Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 8 p.m.; additional 2 p.m. performances on March 13 and 20; Sundays at 2 p.m.; additional 7 p.m. performances on March 7 and 14. "Visual Voice" audio-described performances will be available March 26 and 27 at 8 p.m. and March 28 at 2 p.m. "All My Sons" closes March 28.

Cost: Tickets are $20-$48; discounts are available for youth, students, seniors and members.

Info: Please call (650) 903-6000 or visit theatreworks.org.

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