Libby Skala - Post and Courier Interview

The Post and Courier

Charleston - June 1, 2005

'Lilia!', Lilita' noteworthy in own ways

BY DOTTIE ASHLEY

Of The Post and Courier Staff

Is it "Lilia!" or Lilita"?

The extra "T" makes a significant difference when

purchasing your tickets for one of two plays at A scene

Piccolo Spoleto's La Femme Piccolo, Redux from the

series at the College of Charleston's Chapel play

Theatre on Calhoun Street. "Lilia!"

It's the difference between going to see "Lilita," a

tragicomedy about pedophilia, or "Lilia!," a family-

friendly play about playwright Libby Skala's grand-

mother. Both plays are considered noteworthy

plays, but are tailored to very different audiences.

As she sips iced tea at Starbucks, Skala has good

reason to be optimistic. "Lilia!" received a glowing

review from the New York Times, and was selected

as Best Show at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Her

show opens on June 2.

In "Lilia!," Skala will play two roles: one is herself;

the other is her remarkable grandmother, Lilia

Skala, who fled from the Nazis in 1939 and went on to be nominated for an Oscar for playing Mother Superior in "Lilies of the Field" in 1964.

"In writing 'Lilia!' I wanted not only to show the effect a very strong grandmother had on her granddaughter, but also to show my grandmother's great determination and faith in her talent, which she totally believed was a gift from God," says Skala.

Lilia Skala used her unrelenting determination when her husband was arrested on Kristallnacht, and placed in a Viennese detention center. He escaped only after she risked her life to bribe a guard with a gold cigarette box.

Feisty until her death at 98 in 1994, Lilia Skala was not only a film and stage actress, but also was the fist woman architect in Austria before she immigrated to the United States.

Skala says she always knew her grandmother was different from the other grandmothers in the upscale town of Darien, Conn., an hour from New York.

"I remember coming home from school and my grandmother would be on television in her role in 'Search for Tomorrow,' recalls Skala. "No matter how busy, she always had time for me."

The downside of having such an attentive grandmother was that after Skala graduated from college and went to New York to pursue acting, her grandmother would want to coach her before every audition.

"No matter how hard I tried, I was never good enough for her, and since Grandmother knew most of the directors in town, she was afraid I would embarrass her," says Skala, with a shrug of the shoulders. After several years in New York, she went to visit a friend in Seattle, fell in love with the city and decided to stay there to pursue her acting.

One day while taking an acting workshop, Skala's instructor asked the class to do a five-minute monologue on someone who had influenced their lives. Skala picked her grandmother, and the instructor was so impressed, he built a scenario around the character. Other directors saw it, and Skala was encouraged to expand the scene into an 80-minute play. Even after her death, Lilia Skala seemed to support her granddaughter.

Before "Lilia!" was performed in New York, Skala's father found his mother's old address book with the names of every publicist and director in town. He sent out invitations and fliers to each one. A huge crowd attended "Lilia!," as a consequence.

No doubt Lilia was smiling from the Great Beyond, extremely pleased with "Lilia!"

Last Updated: 3/4/2009

LIBBY

SKALA

Performer Writer