THEATER: A sequel more than a century in the making.
Local theater veteran directs staging of sequel to Ibsen’s famed play
Modern drama was born with the slam of a door that comes at the end of Henrik Ibsen’s landmark 1879 play “A Doll’s House.” That slam indicates Nora, a neglected and overlooked wife, is finally done with being a neglected and overlooked wife and is exiting her marriage and family. For the next century onward, theater aficionados have wondered and literary scholars have theorized about where Nora went and how she fared.
Two years ago, the American playwright Lucas Hnath dared to answer those questions with a new play titled “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” which picks up the story 15 years later. The show’s 2017 run on Broadway got seven Tony nominations, including best play, and earned Laurie Metcalf, who played Nora, the award for best actress. The show’s regional debut opens Friday at the Schenectady Civic Playhouse where it runs through Oct. 20.
“The costuming is 1894 but the subject is 2020,” says Joseph Fava, a veteran of local theater who’s directing the new production. “Nora left behind her children and husband because she couldn’t deal with the marriage she was in. People change and that’s true no matter how long you’ve been married. You deal with that or move on. Over the years, a lot of women have moved on.”
Even if audiences have not seen the original play or one of the film adaptations, Fava says that everything they need to know is laid out in the sequel. “We also find out very quickly about Nora and those 15 years and why she’s back. By the end of the second act, she realizes she doesn’t need what she came back for.”
Given the centrality of “A Doll’s Life” in theater literature, it’s a surprise that in the Schenectady Civic Theater’s rich history of 91 seasons, there’s only one production of the Ibsen play (in 1978). Fava, who’s been involved with the company since the early ‘60s, surmises that the play’s relative neglect must be due to casting concerns.
“Certain plays aren’t picked because we don’t think we can cast them,” explains Fava. “Nora is a difficult complex character and requires an actress with experience who understands the stage and her body. It has to be someone with depth.” Playing Nora in the sequel is Cristine M. Loffredo, an in-demand performer who was last seen in the contemporary drama “God of Carnage,” which played in the spring at Schenectady Civic, also with Fava directing. Loffredo is joined by Michael Schaefer as her husband Torvald, Maddie Illenberg as their daughter Emmy, and Carol Charniga as the nanny Anne-marie.
Fava was so impressed by the quality of the play that he suggested it for the current season. More often, he’s assigned material to direct. “They’ll say Joe would you do this? Oh yeah,” he says. After being involved in more than 300 productions with lots of local troupes over the years, Fava relished the challenge of staging a play with only four scenes, each with only two people talking.
“Seven people onstage is hard to move around but more interesting. You can’t make mistakes with two people,” he says.
Just as the actors have nowhere to hide onstage, a director taking up “A Doll’s House, Part Two” has no place to turn for blocking suggestions. “This script gives you nothing but language and that’s scary,” continues Fava. “But it’s not difficult to direct because the writing is so good. Some speeches are two or three pages long and I direct them like an orchestra conductor — faster, slower, louder, softer.”
Fava’s first outing as a director at Schenectady Civic came in 1969 when he was named assistant director for Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple.” Midway through pro
duction, the main director got called out of town by GE. Fava happily stepped into the breach. He recalls the company big shots exclaiming, “Oh my god, this kid can direct!”
Though Fava was young, he’d already experienced a lifetime of theater. His grandfather played horn in the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera and his dad was a booking agent. He grew up in Schenectady in a big house crowded with an extended family numbering 14.
“One aunt loved theater but her husband hated it,” he recalls. “So she dragged me to everything. I saw Ethel Merman in ‘Annie Get Your Gun.’ I saw Gypsy Rose Lee when I was 8 or 9 years old, I’ll never forget that. I’ve seen Cher, Liza and Michael Jackson, and I saw Judy Garland at the Palace in New York in 1956 and at Carnegie in 1961. Judy was the best thing ever. It was scary.”
Fava’s gusto hasn’t been reserved just for live entertainment. Recently, at age 79, he retired from a successful 40-year career in real estate, which included being property manager for 150 apartments in the Stockade. He was also a hairdresser for 28 years (“I did Patti Lupone’s hair”) and he still works as an antiques dealer.
Though he’s obviously trekked to Manhattan more than a few times, Fava is devoted to the local theater scene. As a board member of Schenectady Light Opera, he pushed for the relocation to downtown. A few years ago, he spearheaded the expansion of Schenectady Civic’s physical plant, including the upgrade to be handicapped accessible. “Any job, I’ve done it,” he says.
“In the old days there were just a couple of theaters,” he continues. “Now people just keep starting them.” With such a wide range of choices, Fava urges fellow thespians to go see lots of things, for enrichment not just amusement. “You have to go see other people’s work, not just your friends’ shows. You don’t have to like everything, but you might learn something.”