A production is like a building, you have to prepare the plans, lay down the base and from there you can build it up. But first you have to think. And you have to have a great subject. What happened to the people in the lifeboats?
I have been creating one person shows since I was a teenager thanks to programs through the 4-H program in my home state of Minnesota. While covering seven roles in the national tour of Stone/Yeston’s Tony Award winning musical Titanic from 1998 to 2000, I experienced being in the shoes of survivors. As the world entered a new millennium, I was thoroughly absorbed in the Edwardian era. . I knew the lines, lyrics, blocking and choreography, but beyond the script I was performing, there was more I needed to discover about the women I was portraying. My research took me to the Astor Cottage in Newport, the Widener Library at Harvard and Molly Brown’s home in Denver as well as the nation’s public libraries. I looked, I felt, I read, I took notes, I absorbed.
The next stage was the writing, or the beginning of it.Each morning I would do three pages, about a character or set of characters. Eventually these notes led to monologues with a particular point of view. Gradually it became clear—there would be nine different women in nine scenes. One of the major challenges was finding a way to make the transitions. My costume designer, Sara Jablon, sent me costume sketches, and together we developed a costume plot that would flow seamlessly, beginning with wardrobe pieces from 1912 from a private collection for the promotional video which is now on YouTube. Eventually we constructed new costumes made of fabrics that could survive an eight- show week. We found corsets, hose and shoes that were correct for the period, and with the help of Jean Block of Hair Theatrix, a collection of hair pieces designed to work with my own hair styled in a Gibson.
The mentors in my work included the late Walter Lord. There are Titanic and movie buffs who consider “A Night to Remember” (based on Walter's bestselling book of the same name) as the most accurate of all of the many film versions, including the Clifton Webb-Barbara Stanwyck Titanic and James Cameron’s blockbuster of 1997. I was having trouble finding information on third class passengers who survived. Walter said, “Use your Imagination,” I came up with the idea of the character of Nora. She would be a performer, and a friend of Wallace Hartley, Bandmaster of the Titanic Orchestra...just a woman of a certain age looking for gainful employment traveling in steerage. I took all the facts I had gathered and did precisely what Walter suggested. Suddenly Nora, a cockney vaudevillian, was born. Another imagined character, The Girl on the Bicycle, represents the early Suffragists, setting the record straight regarding the social and economic climate of 1912. Of the nine characters in the play, seven are real people including Margaret Tobin Brown (the Unsinkable Molly herself), the heiress Madeleine Astor and Ship Stewardess Violet Jessop.
The York Theatre Company gave me an evening in their developmental musical series. This eventually led me to a reunion with my friend John Adams. John saw my show while I was performing it for a class of students learning English as a second language. There were several classes of immigrants with different levels of comprehension. It was a new bit of American history being introduced to them and they were fascinated. Based on this viewing, John decided to invest in the project and market it nationally. We videotaped the promotional demo a week after the events of 9/11-2001. In 2002 I toured with Mamma Mia!, doing rewrites while John booked the production around the country. During the past decade my production has played over 70 venues, including an extended run at The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia in 2004. We have bookings for April 2011 and April of 2012, and more expected next year.
I am now a self-produced artist, and as such I have three versions of the show. The 90-minute full length version, with intermission utilizing all nine characters, full lighting plots, CD accompaniment, and a 1912 steamer trunk. There’s also a 45-minute student performance that fits into the confines of the school day. Over the past eight years, the production has been performed in conjunction with Women’s health fairs, and as a fund raising tool for libraries and local charities such as Domestic Abuse shelters throughout the country. At Womenspeak at the Open Stage of Harrisburg the show was used as a tribute for a local Supporter of the Arts. Audiences as diverse as Senior Citizen Residencies to Elementary School children have enjoyed not only the performance but the Q and A following. My intention has always been to play for a wide range of audiences – from colleges and performing arts centers to public schools, and in free public library programming. With the input of teachers in schools ranging from Ketchikan Alaska to Louisa Virginia, study guides were created.
In this journey I was fortunate to use the talents of family and friends in the business who helped me to shape the show, among them my musical director, C. Colby Sachs and my partner Ron Schwinn, veteran of 13 Broadway shows, who provided musical staging. I look forward to bringing Unsinkable Women to new audiences this season and for the 100th anniversary of the Titanic in 2012. My advice: -- If you're thinking about creating your own show, choose a subject you love. Nothing is better than a good story well told. Know that theatre is a collaborative art that can include your family and true friends. Whatever the difficulties, remember the words of Molly Brown, “You can’t be looking down. You gotta keep lookin‘ up!”
