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Written by Michael Muckian
Aug 12, 2011
The Milwaukee Rep’s production of Jeffrey Hatcher’s “Ten Chimneys” runs Aug. 30-Sept. 25 in the Quadracci Powerhouse. Go to www.milwaukeerep.com or call 414-224-9490.
How difficult would it be to mount a play about the greatest theatrical couple who ever lived? The Milwaukee Rep takes on the challenge later this month when it opens its 2011-12 season with “Ten Chimneys,” playwright Jeffrey Hatcher’s comedy about Broadway giants Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne at home in their Genesee Depot, Wis., estate.
Hatcher’s play revolves around a rehearsal for Anton Chekov’s “The Seagull,” a play that the pair performed both on Broadway and on tour in 1930s. Actors Uta Hagen and Sydney Greenstreet, who starred with the Lunts in Chekov’s work, also are characters in Hatcher’s play.
“It’s helpful and inspiring to have literally thousands of pages of research and photographs, as well as access to the actual setting of the play to draw on,” says Joseph Hanreddy, the former Milwaukee Rep artistic director who has returned to direct this production. “But it’s always more of a creative than a scholarly process, whether the characters are real or fictional. Ten Chimneys celebrates the Lunts, their era and their Wisconsin connection. But the play would be just as appealing if the characters had been made up.”
Hatcher has structured his narrative around the similarities and ironies between Chekov’s play and the relationships among the Lunts and their cast and family gathered in Genesee Depot. A young actress, who may or may not have been real, appears at Ten Chimneys. A romantic triangle ignites, and the resulting action eclipses anything Chekov might have imagined.
“Ten Chimneys” is not the Rep’s first outing with Hatcher. The company commissioned the Steubenville, Ohio, native to write “Worksong,” “A Servant of Two Masters” and “Armadale,” all of which premiered in Milwaukee. Hatcher is the author of numerous other plays, as well as the screenplays for “Stage Beauty”, “Casanova” and “The Duchess.” He also wrote for the TV series “Columbo,” starring the late Peter Falk.
“Jeff is an extraordinarily creative and prolific writer, as well as a great theatrical spirit who is a joy to be around,” Hanreddy says. “He’s created a play that is funny, inspiring and quite touching.”
Ten Chimneys, which was saved from destruction in 1996 by the late Joe Garton, a Madison restauranteur and theater historian, is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors are treated to glimpses into the life of the Lunts, the preeminent theater couple of their day (see page 21). It’s the colorful stories, celebrity visitors and social whirlwind that get the most attention during tours. But the couple also used their summer retreat as a theatrical think tank to rehearse and debate the artistic challenges of the day. That sometimes-overlooked aspect of Ten Chimneys is also key to Hatcher’s play.“The play’s central characters were giants of American theater, artistic perfectionists whose creativity and passionately truthful and naturalistic performances highlighted a golden era of American stage acting,” Hanreddy says. “But the real pleasures of the play go beyond a celebration of theater history to provide a captivating and funny story about art and artists, the creative process and the complex dynamics of marriage and family.”
The Ten Chimneys Foundation, which oversees and manages the 29-acre Genesee Depot estate, has played an active role in supporting the Rep’s production, Hanreddy says. A Ten Chimneys lobby display will sit outside the theater during the play’s run, and there will be audience talkbacks with foundation president and CEO Sean Malone after performances on Sept. 8 and 14. Author Hatcher will join Malone for the Sept. 8 talkback.
