Libby Skala - Back Stage Interview

Back Stage

FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2004

Shows That Enjoy Repeated

Runs: It's Not So Easy

Feature Stories

By Simi Horwitz Libby Skala (right) in

her solo show "Lilia"

which has played var-

ious theatres since 1999.

[Excerpted from a longer article] Photo By: Doug Minor

"Frequently I get the comment 'What else are you working on?' The implication is, why would you be doing any show for more than one run without working on something else as well?"

The answer to that implied rhetorical question -- why do any show for more than one run? -- seems obvious enough: money, as well as exposure that may conceivably lead to a longer run in a more prestigious setting or that elusive golden role in a major play, movie, or TV series.

Regardless of why a theatre artist would want to do a host of runs, there are many challenges in the mounting of these shows. Back Stage interviewed several writers and performers about some of the pitfalls they've encountered. Among them, Libby Skala, writer and performer of her one-woman show, "Lilia!," which she has been performing since 1999; Andrea Reese, writer and performer of "Cirque Jacqueline," a solo piece about the life of Jackie Kennedy, and Ronald Rand, and his solo piece, "Clurman," based on the life of theatre critic and theorist Harold Clurman, which he has performed since 2001.

Libby Skala has received terrific reviews and growing audiences for her play, which recounts her relationship with her Austrian-born grandmother -- an architect, an actress, and a woman who was decades ahead of her time -- Ms. Skala told us: "It occurred to me, why am I trying to do what everyone else is doing when I have a one-person play that shows what I can do?"

The most pointed challenges are the technical, like finding oneself in a less than optimal space with an already exiting set on stage that cannot be moved for a late-night or Monday night performance.

Skala talks about the obstacles she has faced in some of the more modest performing spaces, which may not be as comfortable as one would wish -- unheated and freezing in the winter, or, conversely, unendurably hot (thanks to air conditioners on the fritz) in the summer, or perhaps not even fully lit because some of the lights have blown.

That aside, Skala says her most nettlesome problem was the futility of trying to get reviewers to attend "Lilia!" when it was still an unknown entity. Her endless mailings to critics around town were not paying off. She finally hired a publicist to do it for her and it worked.

The turning point came last summer when she performed her piece at the Midtown International Theatre Festival. New York Times drama critic Bruce Weber showed up and wrote a rave.

Assuming the role of producer is clearly a gray area. Not all theatre artists want to be seen as producers, even if they are functioning in that capacity. "I don't think of myself as a producer, but rather as a member of a team," says Rand, emphasizing that he has never actually rented a theatre for his show. Andrea Reese has been fortunate in having theatre companies contact her to perform in their spaces. And each has contacted different individuals to work with them as directors. Libby Skala has also worked with directors at various points in her show's development -- Gary Austin, Gabriel Barre and Gregg Goldston are credited -- and, as noted, hiring a publicist. Rand worked with a director (Gregory Abels).

"One of the things I'd love to see happen is for me to do a program with Libby Skala, performing our two shows in concert," Rand says. "Her grandmother, Lilia Skala, and Harold Clurman share an essential spirit. They were two extraordinary artists, larger than life, with dignity and passion. They were a life force."

Is the pairing of the two shows likely? "We've talked about it," remarks Rand.

And it may just happen. After all, neither Rand nor Skala is confined by the concept of a limited engagement in only one space. Time is, indeed, on their side.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last Updated: 3/4/2009

LIBBY

SKALA

Performer Writer