Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels June 30, 2004 Tony winner writes, directs 'Oedipus' By Steve Zimmerman Ashland Daily Tidings After years of asking, OSF Artistic Director Libby Appel got her way with the arrival of Visiting Director Frank Galati. "We have known each other and been best chums for 35 years," she said. "When I got this job in 1995, I called Frank the next morning and asked him to come work here. He is so sought after and so busy, it took him nine years to clear a space for us." She asked Galati to direct "Oedipus Rex." But he declined, offering instead to come up with something special for OSF. "He immediately demurred," Appel said. "I asked him to think about it overnight. While on as vacation in Michigan, he took out a copy of 'Oedipus Rex,' and along with it, he was interested in reading what Freud said (about) the Oedipus complex. "In reading both of them at the same time, he called me back and asked me what I would think if he interpolated the writing of Sigmund Freud in with 'Oedipus Rex.' I thought, 'Oh my God, what a fabulous idea.' Knowing what a brilliant writer Frank is, I knew this was well worth the risk." "Oedipus Complex," starring Bill Langan as lead characters Freud and Teiresias, is in rehearsal for its world premier next month at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Galati fused the works of Sophocles, Jean-Paul Sartre and Sigmund Freud to create "Oedipus Complex," a bold and provocative retelling of Greek mythology. Like Appel, Langan said he has long admired Galati's work. "I saw Frank Galati's work a number of years ago in New York when I was having a hard time and was on the verge of quitting the business," Langan said. "It was 'The Grapes of Wrath,' for which he won a Tony Award. It pulled me back from the brink of quitting, so I feel indebted to Frank. It is very exciting to be working with him, but I also wanted to contribute whatever I might have to offer to somebody I feel indebted to." Langan said the performance's debut is a scary thing to both the actors and Galati. "Frank said, 'I think this is going to work. I hope it is going to work,'" Langan said. "I have full faith and confidence that it is going to work. But it is great to work on that edge where you are trying things and things are changing." Langan said the play evolves every day in rehearsals because of Galati's great ideas. "He just kind of astonishes me," Langan said. "All of us that are in the play just kind of look at each other after rehearsals ... and we say, 'Did you believe that. Can you believe this?" Langan said working with Galati has been amazing. "His command of the subject and stage is very exciting," Langan said. "One of the great things about working with him is he knows what he wants and knows the direction he wants to go in. But he is also wonderfully supportive and embracing of the ideas the actors bring in. He is very open to that, but he can also tell you what he is after and can guide you." This will be Langan's swan song for now at OSF as he has announced that he is going to leave OSF at the end of the season to return to New York. "I am a New Yorker, and my girlfriend is going to grad school in Baltimore, so it is time to go back," he said. For now, Langan is excited to be involved in the new project from Galati. "Some of us were talking about how amazing it is that nobody has thought of this before," Langan said. "It is centrally about Freud coming to the idea of the Oedipus complex, the theory of the Oedipus complex." Langan said the parallels in the play and Freud's journey are extraordinary. He said he would have accepted any role in the production. "I went in to Libby last year and said: 'The only thing I care about is to be in this room. I don't care. Put me in the chorus. I just have to be in the room,'" he said. Langan is doing 'Oedipus' and also is in both of the Henrys at OSF. "I have been a professional actor for 15 years," he said. "It is quite a bit, but this is the highlight of my career." Langan said that although he has three plays at once, he never mixes up his roles. "It doesn't really happen," he said. "Sometimes you might get a little spacey in terms of schedule and where you are supposed to be. Learning lines is the easy part. Knowing what to do with them is the hard part. That comes out of rehearsal, so that what you learn is very specific to that moment onstage with that actor. When that actor does that, that triggers this response." Langan said the actors at OSF have been in rehearsals for one play or another since February. So he said it is getting tiring for the actors at this point in the season because the runs are quite long. "Oedipus Complex" opens July 31 and runs through Oct. 30 in the Bowmer Theatre. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams