2008 Woodie Awards
Local actors adapt "On Golden Pond" to Playhouse stage
Ryan Kathman
Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Features
Whether he is performing on stage or preparing to be interviewed by a reporter for a local college paper about the production of "On Golden Pond" he is rehearsing, Phil Heckman knows his audience.
"Are we going to let college kids see this play?" Heckman playfully asked director George Churley. "But everyone keeps their clothes on in it."
Maybe Heckman was just getting into character.
The local actor is making his 12th appearance on the Lincoln Community Playhouse stage with Ernest Thompson's popular dramedy about an aging couple meeting their daughter's fiancé while vacationing at their lakeside summer home.
Though coming up with quick, sardonic retorts like Heckman's college line is a specialty of Norman Thayer's - the crusty retired college professor the actor will portray tonight through April 6 - Norman usually doesn't say it with a smile and wink like 83-year-old Heckman.
"Norman's actually only supposed to be 80, so I had to come down a bit in years for my performance," the theater veteran said just prior to a dress rehearsal.
Actually, director Churley was thrilled to be able to fill out his cast with actors who were age appropriate to his characters, including Jeanne Kern as Norman's 70-year-old sweet and patient better half, Ethel Thayer.
"We have three generations in the play, and I think there are universal themes for everyone," Churley said. "It's funny, and often in a very droll way, but then the next line is yanking at your heartstrings."
The youngest of those generations is represented by Billy Ray, the 13-year-old son from a previous marriage of Bill Ray, fiancé to Chelsea Thayer, Norman and Ethel's jet-setting daughter.
Billy is played by Johnathon Zimmerman, who has appeared in a couple of shows at the Playhouse, at Nebraska Wesleyan University and, most recently, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's in its production of the opera "Dead Man Walking."
"(Johnathon) hasn't had a lot of experience, but he's really come a long way," Churley said of his youngest cast member.
In the play, Norman and Billy form an unlikely bond over fishing, which only serves to underline the unresolved tension between the stubborn father and his equally stubborn daughter.
In the 1981 film version, which both Churley and Heckman acknowledge as the primary source familiar to most people, Norman and Chelsea were played by real-life father and daughter Henry and Jane Fonda.
Jane famously spearheaded the project because of how much the relationship reminded her of her own issues with Henry (a Grand Island native). The role was the elder Fonda's last and won him his only Oscar.
"The stage version is very different from the movie," Churley said. "I like it better because I think it's more humorous and gentler."
Heckman, who had seen only the film before taking on the role of Norman, noted that the story was "enlarged for suspense" on screen, referring to a harrowing fishing boat crash involving Norman and Billy.
"(The play) has much more character development," Heckman said. "That's the essence of the play."
As a former president of Doane College in Crete, Heckman said he is very familiar with Norman's academic background.
"I knew a lot of Norman Thayers," he said. "He's a professor emeritus, honored by his peers. He's careful about his English. But the play is set in the 1970s, and he's a creature of his time, witty and snide."
"On Golden Pond" is being performed in the Playhouse's studio theater, which Churley said has made for some logistical challenges in terms of fitting the demanding set while still leaving room for an audience. But Heckman said he enjoys the intimacy of the space.
"You can play closer to people here and do more subtleties," he said.
As the play's titular Golden Pond is set in Maine, both Churley and Heckman have tapped into their own East Coast roots to help bring the story to life, the director was born in Queens, N.Y., and Heckman is originally from eastern Pennsylvania.
When asked why college students in the Midwest might be interested in this nearly 30-year-old play, Heckman believed it's all relative.
"This is a story that could be familiar to anyone," he said. "People will be saying, 'That was my father, or my mother or my grandparents.' I think the show will be close to selling out."
Even if no one takes their clothes off.
ryankathman@dailynebraskan.com
On Golden Pond
When: Tonight and Saturday at 7:30, Sunday at 2 p.m., April 3-5 at 7:30 p.m., April 6 at 2 p.m.
Where: Lincoln Community Playhouse, 2500 S. 56th St.
How much: $25 general admission/$12 student
"Are we going to let college kids see this play?" Heckman playfully asked director George Churley. "But everyone keeps their clothes on in it."
Maybe Heckman was just getting into character.
The local actor is making his 12th appearance on the Lincoln Community Playhouse stage with Ernest Thompson's popular dramedy about an aging couple meeting their daughter's fiancé while vacationing at their lakeside summer home.
Though coming up with quick, sardonic retorts like Heckman's college line is a specialty of Norman Thayer's - the crusty retired college professor the actor will portray tonight through April 6 - Norman usually doesn't say it with a smile and wink like 83-year-old Heckman.
"Norman's actually only supposed to be 80, so I had to come down a bit in years for my performance," the theater veteran said just prior to a dress rehearsal.
Actually, director Churley was thrilled to be able to fill out his cast with actors who were age appropriate to his characters, including Jeanne Kern as Norman's 70-year-old sweet and patient better half, Ethel Thayer.
"We have three generations in the play, and I think there are universal themes for everyone," Churley said. "It's funny, and often in a very droll way, but then the next line is yanking at your heartstrings."
The youngest of those generations is represented by Billy Ray, the 13-year-old son from a previous marriage of Bill Ray, fiancé to Chelsea Thayer, Norman and Ethel's jet-setting daughter.
Billy is played by Johnathon Zimmerman, who has appeared in a couple of shows at the Playhouse, at Nebraska Wesleyan University and, most recently, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's in its production of the opera "Dead Man Walking."
"(Johnathon) hasn't had a lot of experience, but he's really come a long way," Churley said of his youngest cast member.
In the play, Norman and Billy form an unlikely bond over fishing, which only serves to underline the unresolved tension between the stubborn father and his equally stubborn daughter.
In the 1981 film version, which both Churley and Heckman acknowledge as the primary source familiar to most people, Norman and Chelsea were played by real-life father and daughter Henry and Jane Fonda.
Jane famously spearheaded the project because of how much the relationship reminded her of her own issues with Henry (a Grand Island native). The role was the elder Fonda's last and won him his only Oscar.
"The stage version is very different from the movie," Churley said. "I like it better because I think it's more humorous and gentler."
Heckman, who had seen only the film before taking on the role of Norman, noted that the story was "enlarged for suspense" on screen, referring to a harrowing fishing boat crash involving Norman and Billy.
"(The play) has much more character development," Heckman said. "That's the essence of the play."
As a former president of Doane College in Crete, Heckman said he is very familiar with Norman's academic background.
"I knew a lot of Norman Thayers," he said. "He's a professor emeritus, honored by his peers. He's careful about his English. But the play is set in the 1970s, and he's a creature of his time, witty and snide."
"On Golden Pond" is being performed in the Playhouse's studio theater, which Churley said has made for some logistical challenges in terms of fitting the demanding set while still leaving room for an audience. But Heckman said he enjoys the intimacy of the space.
"You can play closer to people here and do more subtleties," he said.
As the play's titular Golden Pond is set in Maine, both Churley and Heckman have tapped into their own East Coast roots to help bring the story to life, the director was born in Queens, N.Y., and Heckman is originally from eastern Pennsylvania.
When asked why college students in the Midwest might be interested in this nearly 30-year-old play, Heckman believed it's all relative.
"This is a story that could be familiar to anyone," he said. "People will be saying, 'That was my father, or my mother or my grandparents.' I think the show will be close to selling out."
Even if no one takes their clothes off.
ryankathman@dailynebraskan.com
On Golden Pond
When: Tonight and Saturday at 7:30, Sunday at 2 p.m., April 3-5 at 7:30 p.m., April 6 at 2 p.m.
Where: Lincoln Community Playhouse, 2500 S. 56th St.
How much: $25 general admission/$12 student
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